The date and venue of lawyers long march would be decided on February 7 in the meeting of steering committee and it would probably start from Multan, said president Mehmood Ashraf Khan and general secretary Rana Naveed Akhtar while addressing a press conference here today.
They said that date of long march was being changed keeping in view Eid-e-Miladun Nabi falling on March 9. They said that political and politico-religious parties and groups intend to join the long march and sit-in till restoration of the deposed judges at the constitutional avenue on the date to be fixed shortly. They said that this long march is going to be a possible decider of their movement as well as political fate of the parties supporting the cause of independent judiciary.
They said that the sit-in till Justice Chaudhary is put back to the office, is indeed a difficult target given the fact, that PPP government firmly admits the present incumbent in the office of CJP, which was augmenting fury of the lawyers. And how can the damage be controlled when two are running opposite to each other with their respective idea of the judiciary, which requires a lot of sanity and wisdom.
To a question Mehmood Ashraf Khan said the need is to draw a line to assess the success of the long march, otherwise things are likely to turn wrong and unruly at the venue if both tried to resist each other, rigidly sticking to their stand. He said that lawyers show with the help of civil and political communities is being perceived in a different situation from what it was on June 12 last when first long march was put in place.
He claims to fetch one million people to the venue and stage the sit-in. After Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced not to oppose their move to Islamabad and accord the marchers full protocol has left the door wide open to the lawyers and political parties to prove their claims besides, it has cast a responsibility on the PML(N) Punjab Government.
Political observers said that as to the law and order situation and security, the long march would also be a test for the PML (N) government in Punjab, which is supporting lawyers movement and has high political stakes on its success. In view of the observers, the SC decision on the qualification of Sharif brothers, may impact the long march as in either case the PML (N) stand on judges restoration would be stressed.
A negative decision resulting in loss of the provincial government would drift the PML (N) to even more active participation in the march as full opposition party and in case of positive one, the party is sure to get a political mileage on its stand, they believe.