President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday tasked People's Lawyers Forum (PLF) to convince legal fraternity that some forces did not want reinstatement of sacked judges and the PPP had nothing to do with that. The President assigned this task to the office bearers of the PLF, Punjab Chapter, who called on him to discuss and devise future plan of action regarding 'long march' and sit-in for reinstatement of deposed judges.
The President assigned the PLF task to convince the legal community to stay away from lawyers' long march. The President said that "long march was not against the government as it started prior to establishment of the government. We will deal with the march by adopting democratic means," he added. He said that the government had made several attempts to address the issue, and introduced 'Constitutional Package'.
Had PML-N agreed on the package, the situation could have not worsened to such a degree, he added. Talking about the decision of Supreme Court, which disqualified Sharif brothers from holding elected offices, he said that "it were not Sharifs who challenged the decision of Lahore High Court, but the government, which came against the decision." But the stance adopted by Sharif brothers not to acknowledge the judges did play a role in their disqualification, he added.
He said that contrary to Sharif brothers, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, not only appeared before a bench constituted by the then dictator, about whom he knew that he would not get justice, but also argued in person for seventeen days.
Zardari said that the Pakistan Peoples Party was a political force which did not believe in confrontation and had adopted the policy of reconciliation for the sake of democracy and political stability of the country. We will pursue this policy but we also know how to meet political challenges that come in our way, he said.
But the PML-N did not play a role for strengthening of democracy, it left the coalition and cabinet at a time, when the newly elected government was in infancy. Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Farooq H. Naek also addressed the meeting. The PLF delegation lead by Sardar M. Latif Khan Khosa comprised of Sardar Khurram Latif Khosa, President PLF Punjab, Iftikhar Shahid, senior Vice President PLF Punjab, Khawar Khatana, General Secretary PLF Punjab and distinguished lawyers, including Shafqat Abbasi, Habibullah Shakir, Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, Zumurrud Khan and Amir Fida Paracha.
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