LAHORE, Feb 22: Police on Friday barricaded all entrances to Aitzaz Ahsan’s Zaman Park residence after he addressed a joint press conference with the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan.

Police strictly enforced the cordon and Mr Aitzaz’s daughter and niece were also questioned before being allowed into the house.

At the press conference, Imran Khan said the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) would join the lawyers’ long march on Islamabad if the new government failed to restore the pre-emergency judiciary.

He said that reinstatement of the judges was more important than anything else.

He said the political parties had the mandate of the people to restore the deposed judges — a step not needing a two-thirds majority in parliament.

He felicitated the parties which have won the election and asked them not to support President Pervez Musharraf and the US.

“Otherwise the war on terror would be replaced with the fight for the restoration of judges,” he warned.

Mr Ahsan ruled out any compromise on the issue of restoration of the judiciary which, he said, served as the base of democracy.

He said the political parties should keep in mind that the people had given them the mandate to restore the judges removed unlawfully in the wake of the Nov 3 emergency.

He said the PPP should be wary of Gen (retd) Musharraf who was being backed by the Bush administration at the cost of democratic process in Pakistan.

Thanking Mr Khan for his visit, Mr Ahsan said: “Though we share the wall connecting our residences, he (Imran) has come to see me after a long political journey.”

He added the lawyers’ long march would send ripples from Khyber to Karachi and succeed in restoring judges for a lasting rule of law in the country.

Answering a question, Mr Ahsan said the centre of gravity would shift outside parliament if it failed to restore the judiciary.

He said the parties stepping back from their commitment to restore the judges would lose their importance.

Mr Ahsan welcomed the statement of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif that the judiciary would be restored.

“But I believe that they should have talked about the judges’ restoration without linking it to the parliament,” he said.