Non-implementation of SC verdict on NRO; Countrywide Strike by Lawers on 28th: SCBA

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LAHORE: The Lawyers National Coordination Council on Sunday warned the government that if the Supreme Court verdict on the NRO was not implemented the legal fraternity would stage a protest against the government on January 28.

The Lawyers National Coordination Council announced that individuals and organisations were not above the Constitution and they were bound to consult the courts for all the crimes, including corruption.

The Lawyers National Coordination Council moot was held at the Lahore High Court. It was presided over by President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Muhammad Anwar. Presidents of all the high court bars, bar councillors, association presidents and senior lawyers were also present on the occasion.

SCBA President Qazi Muhammad Anwar told the media that the purpose of this session was to examine the ongoing confrontation between the judiciary and the government. The government is not implementing the orders of the chief justice by creating hurdles in the implementation of the verdict which is not tolerable for the lawyers. Any form of corruption is not acceptable, unbiased accountability will take place and no one is above the Constitution even President Asif Ali Zardari, Qazi added. He demanded of the government to fill the vacant slots of judges’ in all the high courts, including the Lahore high Court.

The Coordination Councilannounced that lawyers would stage demonstrations and boycott courts on January 28 and on February 13, future plans would be chalked out at the Rawalpindi Bar in the presence of the chief justice.

Online adds from Islamabad: President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Anwar on Sunday said the government wants confrontation with the country’s superior judiciary without any valid reason.

Talking to the media after a lawyers’ meeting, he said the lawyers’ community has called for a countrywide strike on January 28 to protest the government failure to implement the Supreme Court verdict.

Qazi Anwar said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s statement about President Asif Ali Zardari being immune under Article 248 of the Constitution was in violation of the Supreme Court verdict regarding the NRO.

Qazi Anwar opined that the talk of immunity was not only against the Islamic law but it did not suit the government to make such statements when it had not presented any lawyer before the apex court in this regard.

The government needs to work according to the Constitution of the country and it has to fulfil all the requirements of the Constitution, he added. “We don’t want any confrontation with the government. We do not want to destabilise the system. We will not welcome any martial law in the country,” the SCBA president said. The seats of judges are still vacant in Peshawar, Balochistan and Sindh high courts, he said, adding the government does not seem to be interested in filling these seats.


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