Lawyers set Aug 14 deadline for judges’ reinstatement

[LRE]

Lawyers set Aug 14 deadline for judges’ reinstatement

* Warn govt of civil disobedience
* Aitzaz apologises for inconclusive end to long march

By Rana Tanveer

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Lawyers’ Representatives Convention on Saturday gave another deadline – August 14 – to the government for the reinstatement of the sacked judges, warning that “otherwise lawyers will resort to ‘different’ ways of protests to intensify their ongoing movement”.

LHCBA President Anwar Kamal announced the deadline in his briefing on the resolution “unanimously” passed by participants of the eight-hour-long convention.

Of the total 22 members of the Pakistan Bar Council, only six attended the convention.

Kamal said that if the sacked judges were not reinstated by August 14, the lawyers would assume that the coalition partners had condoned President Pervez Musharraf’s proclamation of emergency rule last year. “It will be tantamount to betraying the people’s mandate of the February 18 polls,” he said while reading out the resolution.

Civil disobedience: Kamal said that lawyers would stage sit-ins before Parliament House and in various other cities, step up court boycotts, block courtrooms, arrange countrywide marches converging in Islamabad and court arrests, and would also resort to civil disobedience movements if the sacked judges were not reinstated by the new deadline. On August 15, he added, the National Co-ordination Council –formed during the convention – would meet at the LHCBA Rawalpindi bench to give a “concrete shape” to protest strategies.

Apology: Earlier, speakers at the convention had held Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan responsible for the “inconclusive” end to the lawyers’ long march last month. Aitzaz apologised to them, saying he had “unintentionally” taken the wrong decision.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...2008_pg7_9