Lawyers say fight continues to restore judiciary

Lawyers whose street protests sparked a political crisis for President Pervez Musharraf hailed the election victory of his foes but warned their fight is far from over.
“Most of the lawyers are happy with the result and they are quite hopeful,” said Lahore High Court Bar Association president Firdous Butt.
But she cautioned they were not taking anything for granted and threatened further street protests.
“We need an independent judiciary, so we started our movement, and now we are on the road unless we get our goals,” she told AFP.
The last lawyers’ protests, in the first half of 2007, saw tens of thousands of people taking to the streets and were the start of Musharraf’s troubles, which culminated in the outcome of Monday’s parliamentary election in which the president’s parliamentary allies suffered heavy losses.
The protests started after Musharraf deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from his post on misconduct charges.
He was later ordered to be reinstated by the Supreme Court after a legal campaign led by firebrand lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan.
But Justice Chaudhry was later deposed and put under house arrest after Musharraf declared emergency rule on November 3, 2007.
The president fired 62 other judges, and the pro-democracy lawyers want all the jurists reinstated.
Ahsan this week called for Musharraf to step down immediately, describing him as the “most hated man in the country” and pledged to lead a so-called Long March in support of Chaudhry on March 9.
Sarfraz Ahmad Cheema, secretary of the High Court Bar Association in Lahore, confirmed that if the new government failed to heed their demands, lawyers throughout Pakistan would march on Islamabad next month.
“We demand from the present government and also from the coming government that Pervez Musharraf should quit the office of the president and the judiciary should be restored as it was on the 2nd of November, 2007,” he told AFP.
The party of martyred former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, along with the party of another former primer, Nawaz Sharif, emerged as winners after the elections and have been mulling a coalition.
Sharif has said his first act in a new government would be to get Chaudhry back in his job. Chaudhry could then rule Musharraf’s re-election illegal — a scenario that brought a smile to the lips of many lawyers gathered in the leafy courtyard of Lahore’s High Court.
“Pervez Musharraf has got two options — either impeachment, or resignation,” said Abdul Rashid Qureshi, as colleagues dressed in their trademark black suits and ties milled around talking politics.
“Resignation from his office is an honourable way. Impeachment is not an honourable way,” he said.
Muhammad Amin Javaid, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said the election result “was the fruit of the struggle of the lawyers for the restoration and revival of the judiciary.” The day after the opposition’s election victory, change appeared to be in the air with the relaxation of the house arrest of key anti-Musharraf lawyer Ahsan, who was detained under emergency rule.
He immediately issued a call for the new government to stand up to Musharraf.
Former chief justice Chaudhry remained under house arrest.
Musharraf deposed Justice Chaudhry in what opponents say was a bid to head off legal challenges to his re-election as president.
While Musharraf remains in office, lawyers say, it will likely take a fight to restore Justice Chaudhry as Chief Justice.
The lawyers want Musharraf to step down and said the two big opposition parties should unite against him.
“They should make this fossil powerless,” Butt said.