In line with the decision of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif regarding the reinstatement of the deposed judges, the legal fraternity has also extended their deadline till the conclusion of the lawyers’ representatives meeting, which has been convened on Saturday (today) in Islamabad.
The office-bearers of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), under the leadership of its General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi, left for Islamabad on Friday evening.
Before departure, Qureshi told The News, half-heartedly, that the lawyers’ ultimatum for the reinstatement of the deposed judges was again extended as the political parties have failed to reach a consensus on the matter.
The legal fraternity had given a protest call for Saturday if the judiciary was not restored by Friday. However, he said a meeting of the lawyers in Islamabad would decide the future course of action.
The legal representatives were, however, quite sceptical of the situation and said that it seemed that the political parties had given an undertaking to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) that the issue of the reinstatement of the deposed judges, especially the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, would be taken up after the presidential elections.
Such dilly-dallying tactics have frustrated the lawyers’ community, as, for the last 17 months, they have been at loggerheads with the authorities, which ultimately has had a crippling effect on their practices in terms of financial conditions.
The situation has now created fissures among the community, some of whom have started attending the courts’ proceedings even during the boycott days.
Most of the City Courts’ lawyers have, by the looks of it, crossed their patience limit and started using abusive languages against KBA office-bearers, whom they assumed are ‘touts’ of the political parties.
However, the future strategy to continue with the protest movement would be announced after Saturday’s meeting in Islamabad.
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