Lawyers, APDM announce long march next month
Bureau Report

LAHORE—The chairman of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf), Imran Khan has urged all members of the civil society and lawyers to sue the government over the house arrest of Supreme Court judges and Chaudhry Aitazaz Ahsan. Addressing a joint press conference alongside barrister Aitazaz Ahsan held at latter’s residence on Friday, he cited the strong resistance by MQM, against his visit to Sindh for 3 consecutive times against which he announced plans to sue MQM.
Earlier while paying a visit to the home of president of Supreme Court Bar Association alongwith a 3-member delegation, PTI chairman Imran Khan discussed the prevailing political scenario Lawyers’ movement and other issues of mutual interest.
During the one-hour meeting, the PTI chairman assured Chaudhry Aitazaz Ahsan of his complete support for lawyers’ long march and future premiership, while Imran Khan warned the government to release and reinstate all arrested judges, otherwise APDM would fully participate in the lawyers’ long march.
He expressed his no-regrets over his party’s boycott of elections, since it was a principled stand, and advised political parties against working with MQM, labeling it as a terrorist party.
Speaking on the occasion, Chaudhry Aitazaz Ahsan also warned about reinstatement of deposed judges until the given ultimatum of 09th March, otherwise no new parliament would last more than 6 months.
Referring to the latest statements of Asif Ali Zardari and Mian Nawaz Sharif , in which the two leaders had announced to “wait for parliament session for the release of deposed judges” , he said that these statements had created reservations and doubts about the issue , since this reinstatement of judiciary does not require any constitutional amendment , nor does it require any 2/3rd majority ; merely an executive order can restore the judiciary. Regarding the issue of being nominated for the top slot of PM , he said that the decision rested with Party executive committee, but opined that since majority of party winners hail from Sindh, the PM should be a sindhi.
He also expressed his support for Asfandyar Wali’s resolve of renaming NWFP as Pakhtoonistan. Chief of Tahreek-i-Insaaf Imran Khan and Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitezaz and Imran both said public has given their mandate in elections that they completely reject Musharraf’s dictatorship and wants democratic forces to takeover. They said elected leaders should take advantage of this mandate and take a clear stance on the issue of judiciary. They appreciated the mutual statement by Nawaz sharif and Asif Ali Zardari in a meeting that judiciary will be reinstated.
Both Aitezaz and Imran stated that there is no need of parliamentary intervention to reinstate the deposed judges as it was only one executive order and not any parliamentary intervention which had deposed them. Imran and Aitezaz seems united on one point that they want reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudry as the chief justice of Pakistan and all 60 deposed judges who took stand for every citizen of Pakistan and not just the constitution of Pakistan, hence there will be no compromise on this demand