Lawyers of Multan Saturday warned parliament against an attempt to link the restoration of deposed judges with a constitutional or reforms package, or get ready for the consequences.
Addressing a joint press conference of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Multan Ashraf Mehmood Khan, General Secretary Rana Muhammad Naveed, lawyer representatives pledged to foil any attempt to sabotage the reinstatement of all judges who had been deposed by President Pervez Musharraf under the PCO on November 3, 2007. They said political parties, which had come to power after the election, were given a heavy mandate for their stance on the judges' issue, but lawyers had some doubts.
"However, lawyers will not allow parliament to abandon its stance on the restoration of the judges," they maintained. Condemning the statement of a federal minister that "Musharraf is a national asset," he warned representatives of the government against statements, which were against pubic sentiment.
Expressing concern over rumours of a constitutional or reforms package asked Mian Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari to implement the Murree declaration at the earliest.
They said lawyers would not accept any step of the parliament for sabotaging the restoration of all the deposed judges. "Any attempt to curtail the tenure of the Chief Justice of Pakistan or High Court chief justices will be foiled.
We want the judiciary restored to its Nov-2 position, without any ifs and buts," he added. Ashraf Mehmood Khan, expressing his concern over the alleged conspiracies being hatched in the Presidency, said the judiciary must be restored en bloc. They said the restoration of the judges and a constitutional or reform package were two different issues, which could not be linked. Reiterating their stance regarding the complete freedom of judiciary and supremacy of law, senior lawyers and office-bearers of Lahore High Court Bar Association have refused to accept any kind of 'Reforms Package' without the restoration of all the judges of superior courts including the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary.
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