Riot police on Thursday laid several layers of barbed wired to stop a few hundred protesting lawyers marching towards the residence of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to commemorate a day to honour the twice removed top jurist. In a bid to pay homage to the deposed chief justice, lawyers observed Thursday as 'Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Day'.
The protest demonstration started from the residence of Aitzaz Ahsan, once a chief counsel for the chief justice, and marched towards the official residence of the ousted chief justice. Both anti-Musharraf icons - Aitzaz and Iftikhar - are under house arrest since November 3, the day constitution was suspended and now-lifted emergency was imposed.
Along with the lawyers, some renowned personalities that include Roedad Khan, former DG ISI, Hameed Gul, Zafar Ali Shah, civil society members and students from Islamabad also marched to submit their disagreement with the steps taken by the regime which imposed curbs on the media, sacked judges and put lawyers under house arrest.
The demand for the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf was the binding force, which congregated people from various walks of life to take the risk and rally against the regime.
The judges who took oath under the PCO were also centre of disgust of the lawyers. They chanted slogans against these judges and termed them as 'traitors'.
They alleged the judges who took oath under the PCO for plunging the country into turmoil, otherwise their movement which compelled the regime to restore Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice would have changed the scenario.
They burnt an effigy of President and called for his urgent resignation, as it was the last resort to save the country from disintegration. "Go Musharraf Go" and "No Musharraf No" were the slogans echoing in the air to submit the magnitude of their anger. They also demanded to try Musharraf under the article 6 of the Constitution.
The slogans and banners of the demonstrators did not spare the 'army' and questioned that the pursuits in which it is engaged are either to save the country, the motive behind its existence, or to thrust the country in troubles. They asked for the reversal of army's involvement in political activities.