President of Supreme Court Bar Association Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has said that lawyers were not stepped back from their stand and would carry on their struggle for the restoration of judges. "If we called for a sit-in, then a few hundreds people would stay," Aitzaz said when asked as to why the lawyers did not stage sit-in.
He was talking to journalists on departure for Haripur with deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for condolence with Vice-President of Supreme Bar Association Saeed Akhtar on his father's death. "We had not decided a sit-in and I always said we would decide it during the long-march gathering".
Aitzaz Ahsan said he does not decide alone, but it is decided by Supreme Court Bar Association, the Pakistan Bar Council and other bodies. "We would suddenly formulate our further strategy," he said. He said the people fully participated in long-march and warmly welcomed it. "We would decide another long-march and the people would support us," he said.
He further said the lawyers showed to the world that people of Pakistan want restoration of judiciary and it should be definitely restored. Responding to a question he said hundreds of men wanted sit-in but "we told them, if any one wants sit-in then they could do so".
To another question he said, "there are two parts of the Constitutional Package, one part is about the authority of the President and we support it that there should be a balance between the President and the Prime Minister powers. The other is about the judiciary and we have some reservations about it which we do not recognise". He said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had ordered the release of judges but if he had added words of their restoration, they would have restored.