Lawyers of the city observed a strike to express solidarity with the Supreme Court (SC) and Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry on Wednesday. The lawyers, protesting against 'conspiracies' which are amid at destabilising the judiciary, said that they are with CJP and would not allow anyone to harm or defame him.
The city lawyers also raised voice against the election of Raja Pervez Ashraf as new Prime Minister of Pakistan, boycotting the courts, causing hardships for litigants. On the other hand, people who came for their cases, suffered as the lawyers boycotted their routine duties. Lawyers of Multan High Court organised a rally led by Mehmood Ashraf Khan its President and they shouted slogans in favour of judiciary and Chief Justice of Pakistan.
A meeting was held in District Bar Multan under the chairmanship of its President Hafiz Allah Ditta Kashif. People Lawyers Forum Leaders Sheikh Ghiyas-ul-Haq, Feroza Faiz, Muhammad Arif Gondal, Rana Javed, Sheikh Atiqu-ur-Rehman and Shahid Naeem said that strike call by some lawyers to express solidarity with the judiciary is a wrong practice which might harm the independence, dignity and impartiality of the judiciary.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday they said the people from all walks of life supported the lawyers' movement for the restoration of deposed judges but now the judiciary is fully independent and giving such controversial calls of boycott would lead to confrontation. They also criticised the decision of a section of legal fraternity for using the Bars for political point scoring and trying to influence courts in getting favourable decisions. He said it is not the responsibility of the lawyers to observe strikes for the implementation of courts's decisions. "Lawyers should not become a tool of any political party in present political situation of the country".