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Pakistan lawyers boycott courts

Nirupama Subramanian

Opposition calls for countrywide shutdown on Friday

ISLAMABAD: Lawyers boycotted courts across Pakistan on Monday to protest the ouster of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, who is scheduled to appear before the Supreme Judicial Council on Tuesday to defend himself from charges of misconduct and abuse of his authority, contained in the presidential reference against him.

Opposition parties joined the legal community in the protests, calling on President Pervez Musharraf to quit and make way for a national government. An "all-party conference" of Opposition leaders in Lahore announced a countrywide shutdown on Friday.

The issue may also figure in the agenda of the "all-party meeting" convened by the Opposition in London on March 24 and 25.

Lawyers took out processions in major towns and clashed with police in various cities including Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and Quetta. Outside the heavily guarded Supreme Court building here, lawyers burnt an effigy of Gen. Musharraf.

The Supreme Court Bar Association announced a meeting in Islamabad later this week to be attended by representatives of bar associations of the country to work out a strategy. They will observe Tuesday, the day Mr. Chaudhary has been summoned by the Supreme Judicial Council, as a "black day".

All eyes are now on the ousted Chief Justice, who is reportedly under pressure from the Government to resign. But from all indications, Mr. Chaudhary is preparing to dig his heels in and fight it out in the Supreme Judicial Council.

Lawyers said they would go ahead with plans to lay siege to the venue of the Supreme Judicial Council's hearing.

A newspaper opened another can of worms on Monday with a report that two of the judges, who will sit in the council, have themselves references pending against them containing serious charges.

Meanwhile, the organisers of a SAARC Law conference said the turmoil in Pakistan's legal community over Mr. Chaudhary's ouster would not affect the March 23-25 meet.

Chief Justice of India, K. G. Balakrishnan, is expected to arrive here on March 22 for the conference, which will discuss a number of legal issues.

Over 600 participants from the legal profession in the SAARC countries are expected at the conference in Karachi.

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