Lawyers want to stand up and be counted

He adds two factors - restoration of judges and ouster of General Pervez Musharraf from power have been knotted together by the legal fraternity but they give more force to restoration for it has to precipitate fulfillment of their second point of struggle. They want ouster of President Musharraf to lay foundation of a new system at the head of a strong and independent judiciary, hence turning this forum to a greater public advantage cleansing its role as protector of the military rulers. What good Justice Chaudhary showed to the nation through its suo moto actions, now the lawyers want the same to be translated into a state system which provides for a layman, said former secretary LHCBA and senior jurist Shahzad Shaukat.

A happy feature about them is they want the parliament to respect their demand asserting its sovereignty about which the prime minister has recently talked tall. They are still waiting and banking on the parliament to meet their demand and that was why their leadership has not unveiled the future plan at the Parade Square, Islamabad, while they have already dropped hints at doing something extraordinary.

What the legal fraternity intends, is not a simple matter but needs a lot of struggle, hard-working, consistency, discipline and thinking against which, the vested interests have also been creating stumbling blocks, said a senior lawyer adding, it had begun right from the moment when Pakistan Bar Council had a narrow escape on its long march decision in a meeting held in the City on May 16 last. Later a split in the community on the long march also became visible.