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Countdown to begin after govt formation: Aitezaz
LAHORE: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan warned the countdown will begin immediately after the government is formed and the new government would be given three-day time. Speaking at a press conference at the Punjab Bar Council here on Sunday, he said the proponents of the theory, that the illegal steps taken on Nov 3 could not be undone without a two-thirds majority of parliament, were in fact attaching legality to the steps taken by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf. He said the parliament would not be able to complete its five-year term if it sets aside the issue of the restoration of the deposed judges. If this idea was to be bought, it would mean that tomorrow another Army man would step in, suspend the Constitution, and detain hundreds of judges, arrest parliamentarians and say now go to parliament for a solution. Earlier, at another occasion, Aitzaz Ahsan hailed the joint declaration of the PPP and PML-N, vowing reinstatement of the deposed judges within 30 days after the formation of the new government. Talking to newsmen outside the residence of the deposed SC judge Khalilur Rehman Ramday in GOR-1 on Sunday, he said they believed the two leaders would honour their words as they had acknowledged the lawyers' viewpoint. Aitzaz said masses would start counting 30 days after the formation of the new government while rallies by the lawyers would continue with the same enthusiasm and slogan of "Go Musharraf Go!" Earlier, at the press conference at the PBC, he said Pervez Musharraf had occupied the president's office. Pakistanis heads bowed down in shame as he (Musharraf) confined the children of the judges to their places too, he added. Aitzaz said General (retd) Musharraf was guilty of suspending and amending the Constitution and deposing and arresting 60 judges and could be prosecuted under at least 15 sections of the Pakistan Penal Code. Musharraf through his November-3 action also violated the decision of the 13 judges of the Supreme Court, he said. He said on March 9 last, the 'deposed' chief justice was detained for four days but after the imposition of emergency, he was in illegal confinement for the last four months. "It was his residence earlier, but now it was a private jail," he said. The SCBA president added that the law enforcers claimed about freeing people from the private jails but no one bothered about the confinement of the chief justice. He said that the judges who had taken oath under the PCO had no moral courage even to ask their neighbours (sacked judges) as to how they were passing their lives. In the Judges' Colony in Islamabad, Justice Sardar Raza Khan, Justice Shakirullah Jan and Justice Nasirul Mulk were detained while in Lahore, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Falak Sher, Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jillani and Justice Ejaz Chaudhry were confined. He said Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar shared a wall with Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's residence but he had not asked even once about the health of his children.
Courtesy Geo