Lawyers future strategy for the Restoration of Judiciary

DECISIONS OF THE LAWYERS’ NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COUNCIL
IN ITS EMERGENT MEETING IN ISLAMABAD

AUGUST 23, 2008.

1. On Monday 25th August all Bar Associations will re-hoist the black flags that were lowered after the Islamabad Declaration.
2. On Thursday 28th August there will be country-wide dharnas for two hours from 12.00 noon to 2.00 pm. (Future dharnas, if necessary, may be for a longer duration). The procedure will be:
• Each High Court, District and Teshsil/Taluqa Bar Association will select a key point on a inter-city highway, inter-city road or, in case of metropolitan cities, the city-centre or hub, for a peaceful, non-violent sit-in (dharna).
• Bar Associations on or close to the GT Road and the National Highway will stage the dharna on the GT Road or the National Highway/Motorway.
• Adequate publicity will also be made of the site in liaison with the local and national media.
• Each Bar Association will hold press conferences to inform people of the location of the proposed two hours’ dharna. Each Bar Association will inform the office of the National Co-ordination Council of its selected site by Tuesday 26th August.
• The sit-in ‘dharna’ will be entirely non-violent and peaceful.
• Civil society, political leaders, workers and cadres, professional bodies, trade unions, students unions and women organizations will be welcomed, indeed are hereby invited to join but will remain entirely under the discipline of the leadership of the lawyers.
• No clash or rival slogans will be permitted.
• Local traders and bazaars will be requested to bring their shutters down for those two hours.
• We appeal to the people of Pakistan to bear with us this inconvenience, and indeed to join us, for a larger national cause. An independent judiciary is essential for the progress and development of the nation. We have been compelled to take this action due to the continuing failure of the Government to abide by the written commitments it has made in the Murree and Islamabad Declarations. Specific time-lines committed to the people of Pakistan have not been adhered to. Hence the need for action.
• To minimize the inconvenience caused arrangements will be made by each Bar Association in co-operation with the traffic police for the passage of ambulances, school vans and doctors ONLY.
3. On September 4, 2008: Office-bearers of all Bar Associations all over Pakistan will protest in front of Parliament House, Islamabad. Civil society and political cadres will be welcome to join the protest. Being the month of Ramzan there will not be any dharna.
4. The meeting unanimously disapproved and regretted the decisions taken by the Pakistan Bar Council on August 23, 2008. It lauded the services of Mr. Rashid A. Rizvi, Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, Mr. Hamid Khan and Hafiz Abdur-Rahman Ansari, honourable members PBC for their role in the Lawyers’ Movement. In view of the changed situation the following Executive Committee of the Lawyers’ National Co-ordination Council was unanimously elected to give direction to the Lawyers’ Movement after the abdication of the Pakistan Bar Council from that role:

President: Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan.
Secretary: Sardar Asmathullah.
Information Secretary: Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari.
Members: Mr. Munir A. Malik. Mr. Ali Ahsmed Kurd, Mr. Hamid Khan.Mr. Rasheed A Rizvi. Mr. Tariq Mahmood, Mr. Anvar Kamal. Mr. Latif Afridi. Mr. Saeed Akhtar. Mr. Qazi Naeem, Mr. Mahmood-ul-Hassan, Mr. Naeem Siddiqui, Mr. Baz Mohammad Kakar, Mr. Jamal Mandokhel. Mr. Amanullah Baluch, Mr. Amin Javed.

Aitzaz Ahsan
Chairman

Sardar Asmathullah Khan,
Secretary General,

National Co-ordination Council of Lawyers, Pakistan.