Pak lawyers kick off anti-Musharraf protests

The influential lawyers’ movement decided to embark on the march after the Pakistan People’s Party-led government failed to meet two self-imposed deadlines to reinstate the judges deposed by Musharraf for not endorsing last year’s emergency rule.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, a key ally in the ruling coalition, has extended support to the protest even though the PPP had urged the lawyers’ movement not to go ahead with the march as the government was working to restore the deposed judges through a constitutional amendment.

The PML-N has opposed the PPP’s move to make the restoration of the judges part of a package of proposed constitutional reforms, saying they should be reinstated through a parliamentary resolution and an executive order issued by the Prime Minister.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan has said the march will be peaceful. He asked people to support the protest to ensure an independent judiciary and the supremacy of law.

The protests by Pakistan’s lawyers’ movement, which spearheaded opposition to Musharraf’s rule last year, could also intensify calls for the former army strongman to step down.

“Tight security arrangements have been made for the march,” Rehman Malik, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs said and asked security agencies to take all steps to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, lawyers gathered at the Sindh High Court Bar Association before driving in a motorcade to Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum. They were addressed by top lawyers and political leaders before setting off for Multan in Punjab province.

Lawyers and political workers gathered in Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta to set out for Jaccobabad. They will be joined by processions from other parts of Balochistan.

Deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry will join the lawyers in Multan tomorrow. The lawyers will then travel from Multan to Lahore, where they will be addressed by Chaudhry before they begin their march to Islamabad on Thursday.

Meanwhile, around 30 retired Pakistani diplomats, including three foreign secretaries, yesterday announced they would join the “long march”. The retired foreign secretaries Shamshad Ahmed Khan, Akram Zaki and Riaz Khokhar and the others rejected the government’s plan to link the restoration of the deposed judges through the constitutional reforms package.

“Musharraf’s unconstitutional step of sacking judges on November 3 not only undermined the rule of law in the country but also distorted Pakistan’s image abroad,” Khan said.

PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had yesterday said that there were differences with other partners in the ruling coalition on modalities for reinstating the deposed judges. He added the PPP believed in independence of the judiciary and empowerment of parliament.