PESHAWAR, June 1: Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has said that an independent judiciary plays the role of a shield for a democratic government, and in its presence nobody would dare to harm it.

Justice Iftikhar called upon lawyers to strengthen their unity which was vital for the success of their movement.

He was addressing a lawyers’ convention, which started late on Saturday night and continued till 4.40am on Sunday, on the premises of the Peshawar High Court.

The chief justice was moved by the warm welcome given to him by lawyers and members of the civil society. The convention began with a spectacular display of fireworks followed by a popular Pashto nationalist song and most of the people attending the convention started dancing.

The convention was attended by deposed SC judges Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan and Justice Nasirul Mulk, deposed Chief Justice of the PHC Tariq Pervez Khan and three judges, Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai, Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan.

Justice Iftikhar, in his first visit to Peshawar since the imposition of the emergency, made a comprehensive speech on “The role of judiciary in strengthening the parliamentary system.”

He said it was the prime responsibility of superior courts to help a democratic system function on a sound footing and to strengthen the parliamentary system.

The chief justice said it was the beauty of democracy that a prime minister, who was yet to take the oath of his office, ordered the judges to be set free and within 10 minutes law-enforcement agencies, which had kept him under detention for around five months, lifted the siege of his residence.

He praised the lawyers’ movement and termed it an unprecedented event.

“Not only in this country but in the entire world lawyers have never waged a movement of such a magnitude whose main objective was to restore the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution,” Justice Iftikhar said.

“When I declined to surrender before brute force on March 9 last year I never thought that the lawyers and 160 million people of the country would stand by me,” the deposed chief justice said, adding that the legal fraternity had rendered invaluable sacrifices for the prosperity of future generations.

He also praised the judges of the superior courts who had not taken oath under the PCO and said that they had declined to become part of a system in which judiciary would be subservient to a dictator who had misused his uniform and defamed the sacred institution of the armed forces.

The chief justice said that under Article 58(2)b of the Constitution, a reference had to be made to the Supreme Court after the dissolution of Assembly within 14 days.

He said one could guess the fate of such a reference sent to the Supreme Court occupied by judges who had taken the oath of loyalty to a dictator.

Justice Tariq Pervez said that the struggle waged by lawyers was a ‘holy war’ and they would soon achieve success.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan called upon all segments of society, including doctors, engineers, students, teachers and NGO workers to join hands with lawyers and take part in the June 10 long march.

He said that the only crime of Justice Iftikhar and other judges of the superior courts was that justice had started reaching the common man and this was not acceptable to forces of the status quo. Mr Ahsan regretted that some elements had tried to create an impression that he had left Justice Iftikhar and said that he could not even think of betraying the lawyers’ movement.

Pakistan, he said, had been turned into a security state and this was time to make it a welfare state. Peshawar High Court Bar Association president Abdul Lateef Afridi announced complete support for the June 10 long march and said that lawyers would proceed to Islamabad from Peshawar in large numbers.