Lawyers demand Musharraf’s immediate resignation
Daily Times, March 18, 2007
LAHORE: The ‘All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention’ said on Saturday that Gen Pervez Musharraf’s move against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was a direct military assault on the judiciary and was unconstitutional.
The convention was held at the Karachi Shuhada Hall of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), where lawyers passed a resolution demanding Musharraf’s immediate resignation. The lawyers also demanded that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his cabinet, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and his cabinet and Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Rahim and his cabinet resign immediately. The resolution said that caretaker central and provincial governments should be set up with the consensus of all stakeholders for free and fair elections under an “acceptable” Election Commission, and called for the smooth transfer of power to elected representatives. The lawyers said in the resolution that it was their legal and constitutional right to hold protests and demonstrations to save the judiciary. They said that the police mistreatment of lawyers during a peaceful demonstration on Saturday would not be tolerated.
The resolution said that the crackdown on opposition politicians and the arrest of protesters in Islamabad on March 16 and in Lahore on March 17 was an attempt to “choke civil society and destroy the rule of law”. The “calculated attack” on Geo TV’s office in Islamabad and the mistreatment of journalists in Lahore was an attempt to “intimidate the fourth pillar of the state” – the press. The lawyers demanded the immediate reinstatement of the CJP. They resolved to continue the struggle for the independence of the judiciary and the restoration of people’s constitutional rights. The lawyers also demanded the immediate dismissal of the inspector general of police and heads of agencies involved in the crackdown on politicians and protesters.
They said that all advocates and other citizens arrested during the course of lawyers’ protests should be released, and cases against them should be immediately withdrawn. The demanded that all missing people throughout Pakistan be accounted for and released and those responsible for their “illegal detention” be punished. The convention condemned the police action against lawyers outside the LHC building. staff report
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