The government on Wednesday formally invited the legal fraternity to a dialogue to overcome the prevailing judicial crisis. "We formally invite Bar Councils for a dialogue to find out an amicable solution of all the issues," Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said while speaking at a news conference here at Press Information Department.
Commenting on the countrywide protests against the Presidential reference, he said lawyers have distanced themselves from the opposition parties, which were politicising the sensitive issue. "I assure that they (legal fraternity) would be satisfied and soon realise that the government has not taken any extra-constitution step," he responded to a query.
Durrani went on saying that people have exposed opposition parties' politics and did not participate in their protests at all. "The opposition has miserably failed to bring people on streets. There were few political leaders in front of the Supreme Court in a bid to exploit the situation," he added.
Moreover, he said, the opposition parties were trying to create bar-bench confrontation. "In fact there are visible cracks in the opposition ranks and these differences would soon be more visible," he replied.
When asked whether the government would tender apology to non-functional Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for being manhandled by the riot police, Durrani offered no comments saying, "the matter is sub judice and the apex court has already taken suo moto notice of the incident."
However, the Information Minister twisted the reply when asked that had the government contacted the senior most Supreme Court Judge, Justice Rana Bhagwan Das upon his arrival from India. He said everything would be done in accordance with the Constitution.