PCO judges not acceptable: PBC

Sunday, May 04, 2008 Lawyers to decide strategy on 16th if judges not restored ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Vice-Chairman Haji Syed Rehman said on Saturday the lawyers’ community wanted the reinstatement of the deposed judges on the pre-Nov 2 status and would never accept the PCO judges. Talking to media persons after presiding over a PBC meeting here, he said the PBC would hold another meeting in Lahore on May 16 to discuss the future strategy of the lawyers’ movement if the deposed judges were not reinstated on May 12. "We want the restoration of judiciary and are ready to give time to the political parties till May 12, the date announced by Nawaz Sharif for the reinstatement of the deposed judges through a resolution," he said, adding that the organisation was pursuing a policy of flexibility. According to the decision of the PBC, an important meeting of lawyer leaders, including the presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the High Court Bar Association, vice-chairmen of the provincial bar councils and members of the National Lawyers’ Action Committee, will be held on May 17 to decide the future strategy of the lawyers’ movement, he announced. The lawyers’ movement will continue if the announcement made by Nawaz Sharif met the same fate as did the Murree Declaration, the PBC vice-chairman said. When asked about the increase in the number of judges of the Supreme Court, he said: "No that will be unacceptable as we don't accept the PCO judges." He gave the details of the resolution passed by the PBC, which said the lawyers and the people felt frustrated and disappointed that despite the promise in the Murree Declaration, the judges had not been restored. The organisation, he said, decided that the protest and court boycott in accordance with the Peshawar resolution of the PBC would continue every Thursday for the superior courts. The PBC paid tributes to Benazir Bhutto for her great sacrifices for the restoration of democracy in the country, he said. The PBC meeting was attended by Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Abdul Hakeem Khan Kundi, Ch Muhammad Ashraf Wahlah, Dr A Khalid Ranjha, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari, Hamid Khan, Rasheed A Rizvi, Pervaiz Inayat Malik, Imdad Ali Awan, Raja Muhammad Shafqat Abbasi, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Muhammad Yousuf Leghari, Muhammad Yaseen Azad, Muhammad Ramazan Chaudhry, Said-ur-Rehman, Abul Inam, Muhammad Kazim Khan, Mirza Aziz Akbar Baig and Asrar-ul-Haq Mian.