Return of the black coats: Lawyers ready themselves for a second bout

Lawyers in Rawalpindi resolve to continue their movement for the ‘supremacy of law’.

RAWALPINDI:

The black coats, who fought a long-hard battle with a dictator to restore the judges, are back in business. As the government continues to lock horns with judiciary over important decision, lawyers from Rawalpindi on Saturday vowed to continue their support for the “supremacy of the law”.

The lawyers from the city pledged to resist disobedience of the SC verdicts and will chalk out their future plan of action over the issue “soon”.

Addressing a press conference at Rawalpindi Press Club, President High Court Bar Association Shaukat Aziz Siddiqi and other representatives said that if the government did not comply with the court orders, they would start the second phase of their movement for the independence of the judiciary.

“The lawyers are not ready to accept any hurdles in the way of implementation of Supreme Court orders,” Advocate Siddiqi said. “These [hurdles] are being created by the federal government,” he added.

He said the high court bar will call an All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention in Rawalpindi on September 24 to discuss the situation arising from the disobedience of the court orders by the government. Besides lawyers, the convention will be attended by civil society members and political party activists, he added.

“We will have to start protesting outside the Parliament and PM Secretariat, if the government does not implement SC’s orders,” he said.

The representatives of the lawyers said that the government was apprehensive about some of the expected decisions of the apex court. “The government is worried about some important cases of corruption involving big names,” said a lawyer.

The govt is trying to malign the higher judiciary and this will not be tolerated by the legal fraternity, he added.

The lawyers are gearing up for the second round of their struggle for an independent judiciary.

As Shaukat Siddiqi put it, “In the first phase we fought for the restoration of judges and independence of the judiciary. In the second phase, we plan to go for the implementation of the rulings and upholding the sanctity of the orders of the apex court.”

Meanwhile, lawyers of the district bar association protested outside the court premises. Led by the President District Bar Association Malik Jawad Khalid, they gathered at main Kachari Chowk and blocked the intersection for about 30 minutes.

Earlier, in their meeting, the lawyers adopted a resolution condemning the attitude of the federal government towards the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^th,  2011.