A firebrand lawyer called on Friday for President Pervez Musharraf to step down, a day after authorities freed him from nearly three months of detention. Aitzaz Ahsan, head of Supreme Court Bar Association, was first jailed and then kept under house arrest after Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 3.
"We demand that President Pervez Musharraf steps down because his presence is causing suicide attacks and promoting acts of terror in the country," Ahsan said in a speech Friday to 1,000 lawyers in Lahore.
"Our struggle for the restoration of democracy and an independent judiciary will continue. I appeal to all bar associations to actively take part in the struggle to end dictatorship." Ahsan predicted the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party would be defeated in general elections on February 18, and that if it was not, it would be proof the polls were rigged.
He also urged Musharraf to stop levelling allegations of corruption against former chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who remains under house arrest in Islamabad. The Supreme Court ordered Chaudhry's reinstatement after a legal campaign led by Ahsan, but he was later sacked and put under house arrest when Musharraf imposed the emergency in November.
Opponents accuse Musharraf of sacking Chaudhry to head off a Supreme Court verdict that appeared likely to overturn his victory in a presidential election in October.
OUR CORRESPONDENT ADDS: The Supreme Court Bar Association has said the Supreme Court should act against the illegal detention of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry and his family.
A bar meeting held in Lahore has decided to carry on with boycotting higher courts except those in Sindh for bail matters of political activists detained after the death of Benazir Bhutto. Association President Chaudry Aitzaz said lawyers would continue staging a strike on Thursday and rallies and meetings and that the bar had also decided to present its proposals to the Pakistan Bar Council and the National Action Committee, aiming to boycott higher courts.
He said bar members were allowed to appear in subordinate courts since they had not take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). He also urged the government to release all the detained judges and bar members, warning that if the government refused to do so the bar members would carry on with pressuring it. He earlier visited and addressed the bar after his release on February 1.