ISLAMABAD, Aug 23: As the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) convened a meeting of provincial bar councils on Sept 12 to review the progress made in the lawyers’ movement, a significant number of lawyers led by Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, annoyed by the delay in the reinstatement of deposed judges, defied PBC decisions and announced their own protest plans, including two-hour-long sit-ins every Thursday.

Saturday saw hectic activity among the lawyers’ associations with newly appointed Attorney-General Senator Sardar Latif Khosa presiding over the PBC meeting and insisting that only the council was authorised to steer the lawyers’ campaign for the restoration of judiciary.

But a newly formed National Coordination Council (NCC) led by Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) president Aitzaz Ahsan adopted a unanimous resolution, condemning and rejecting the PBC’s decision to replace widely respected Rasheed A. Rizvi by Yaseen Azad as chairman of its executive committee.

Accusing the PBC of deviating from the 17-month-long lawyers’ struggle, the coordination council announced that sit-ins would begin from Aug 28 in Islamabad. All high court, district, tehsil and taluka bar associations would stage peaceful ‘Dharnas’ at key points in their respective areas.

Prior to the sit-ins, all bar associations would hold general body meetings on Monday and hoist black flags to protest against the PBC decisions.

According to the NCC plan, an All Pakistan Representatives rally will be staged on the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad on Oct 4.

Bar associations in the proximity of the GT Road and the National Highway would stage sit-ins there, ensuring adequate publicity in liaison with the media.

Members of the civil society, political leaders and workers, professional associations, trade unions, students unions and women’s organisations would be welcome to participate but they would not be allowed to create hostility. Traders would be requested to close their shops during the sit-ins.

Aitzaz Ahsan appealed to the people to bear “this inconvenience and join us for a larger national cause”.

He said arrangements would be made by all bar associations in cooperation with the traffic police, allowing only ambulances, school vans and doctors to pass.

Deploring that timelines specified in various agreements had not been adhered to, he said: “We have been compelled to take action because of the government’s continuing failure to abide by … Bhurban and Islamabad declarations.”

The NCC’s executive committee includes Sardar Asmatullah, Muneer A. Malik, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Latif Afridi, Tariq Mehmud, Rasheed A. Razvi, Hamid Khan, Amanullah Baloch, Hadi Shakeel, Mehmud Ashraf, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari, Mehmudul Hasan, Saeed Akhtar and Jamal Mandokhel.

Earlier, PBC’s vice-chairman Haji Saiyed Rehman told reporters here at the Supreme Court Building that it was only the council’s prerogative, being parent body of the legal fraternity, to lead all campaigns and it would not allow anyone to take over the movement for the reinstatement of deposed judges.

He declared that the PBC would continue to lead the lawyer’s movement instead of the SCBA, giving a clear message to Aitzaz Ahsan to follow its decisions.

The heroic movement, he said, had started at a time when Mr Ahsan had not even been elected as the association’s president, adding Mr Ahsan’s tenure would end in two months but the movement would remain intact until the reinstatement of judges.