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| Lawyers, Opp mull struggle against military rule in Pakistan | | |
ISLAMABAD, JULY 22 (PTI)
After a successful movement aimed at reinstatement of the Chief Justice, lawyers in Pakistan are all set to launch a struggle for restoration of democracy in the Islamic nation.
"The movement of the legal fraternity is not merely for reinstating some individual, rather it is aimed at complete restoration of the 1973 Constitution in the country," 'The News' reported today, quoting President of the Pakistan Bar Council Munir A Malik as saying here.
Though the presidential spokesperson has reassured that Pervez Musharraf would doff his military uniform by the end of this year, Munir said, the second phase of the movement for independence of judiciary would continue till the end of dictatorship in the country.
Demanding Musharraf's resignation after the historic Supreme Court judgement restoring Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry, he said it was time for intellectuals of the country to come forward and ask the Army to restrict its role to the limits as defined in the Constitution.
The second phase, to be called 'Go Musharraf Go', would definitely restrict the Army from interfering in politics and commercial activities, the daily quoted other senior lawyers leading the movement as saying.
"As a result of our movement, the President will have to step down from both the positions he is currently holding unconstitutionally," lawyer Syed Tayyab Shah said.
However, President Musharraf's spokesperson Maj Gen (retd) Rashid Qureshi refuted claims that the Army was playing any constitutional role in the country.
"Pakistan Army has nothing to do with politics. Not even a single general of the Army, except Musharraf, is holding any constitutional office. Even Musharraf is not running the government. He is just the President and the government is being run by the Prime Minister," he was quoted by the daily as saying.
Meanwhile, urging people and lawyers to continue their struggle to free institutions from the occupation of military rulers, Pakistan's opposition parties have decided to launch a fresh round of their anti-Musharraf drive under the aegis of All Parties' Democratic Movement (APDM).
APDM leader Liaquat Baloch told newspersons in Lahore yesterday that the movement would soon finalise a strategy for a long march to Islamabad. "The long march would be the final phase of the movement," he said.
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