Islamabad:
Political leaders, human rights representatives and journalists at a roundtable conference in Islamabad announced on Thursday the launch of nationwide movement against the 26th constitutional change and formed a committee to campaign for the movement.
Participants in Roundtable described the 26th change as a serious threat to the independence of the judiciary and the Constitution. Senior lawyer Hamid Khan told the conference that a national convention will be held in Lahore on October 11 to mobilize support.
At the event, a committee was set up under the presidency of senior lawyer Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan to lead the campaign for the nationwide lawyer movement against the 26th amendment.
Other members of the committee include Hamid Khan, Sardar Latif Khosa, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Qazi Anwar, Salahuddin Ahmed, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Justice (Retd) Shahid Jamil, Munir a Malik and Shaista Khosa.
As Roundtable warned Iman Mazari that justice had disappeared from courts and parliament, therefore struggle must now continue through a public movement. “Otherwise, this will be our collective death,” she said.
Mazari also protested greatly restrictions on Islamabad High Court (IHC), which prevented lawyers and journalists from registering videos as well as refusing the court’s access to Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) lawyers.
Senator Hamid Khan called the 26th change an attempt to undermine the independence of the judiciary. “The public mandate was stolen, the election results were not respected – this is a mockery of democracy,” he said.
Justice (RETD) Shahid Jamil warned that the rule of law no longer existed in the country and urged lawyers to stand against the 26th amendment and said, “If they do not, the existence of the judiciary will be in danger.”
Barrister Ahsan emphasized that the story of lawyers’ movements was full of victims and that the country again needed such a fight. Barrister Ali Zafar criticized the government for using the judiciary as a political tool. “The Constitution has been thrown in the trash.”
Salman Akram Raja described the last two and a half years as “the worst years of oppression and tyranny”, which highlighted trials of ordinary citizens in military courts as a violation of fundamental rights.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan stated that the 26th amendment constituted a major obstacle to an independent judiciary and promised the party’s support for the lawyer’s movement.
At the end of the conference, Khosa presented a decision that summarized the mission of the movement: “Save the country, protect the motherland and protect journalism.”
