She said that the lawyers’ struggle that followed it was against martial law, unconstitutional steps and non-democratic traditions. She said she would ensure unity among the country’s lawyers.
Jahangir was speaking at a joint general house meeting held under the auspices of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) to mark November 3 as a black day. The speakers at the meeting passed a unanimous resolution demanding trial of former president Pervez Musharraf and a permanent ban on the politicians who supported Musharraf in imposing emergency by subverting the constitution
In the resolution, the bar associations demanded action against police officials for attacking and beating lawyers on November 5, 2007 at the Lahore High Court (LHC). They also demanded that the Supreme Court take action in the light of the inquiry by the former LHC chief justice Syed Zahid Hussain.
Jahangir said that the lawyers would help a parliament that favoured the people. A parliament, she said, that had no sympathy with the public did not deserve their cooperation. She said the lawyers would resist wherever violation of the Constitution would take place.
The independence and respect of the judiciary would be ensured, she said. She also said that the judges would have to respect the bar.
LHCBA president Mian Quddus said that the chief justice’s no to a dictator had made history for the country. He said that the politicians in opposition had demanded justice but after coming into power they had forgotten all about it. He said lawyers would not favour a corrupt judiciary; rather they would support impartial judges working for the welfare of the public.
The other speakers on the occasion included LHCBA vice president Mian Shah Abbas, secretary Babar Murtaza, SCBA vice president Zubair Khalid, secretary Qamar Zaman Qureshi, Advocates Mian Jameel Ahmed, Malik Saeed Hasan, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, Allah Bakhsh Gondal and Raja Zulqarnain.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2010.
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