Grand Trunk Road

Anwar Khan at the Business Recorder reports¹ that the legal fraternity is likely to take key decisions at its meeting on Saturday May 16. “including launching of a long-march from Lahore to Islamabad, besieging of the President House, some other government premises in the capital and running of a “Judicial Bus” of deposed judges to start judiciary’s reinstatement campaign.” When asked about the role of the various political parties in this campaign (which may last up to a year and will possibly involve lawyers across the country boycotting court proceedings) President of Karachi Bar Council (KBC), Mehmood-ul-Hassan was skeptical that the PPP would support them but stated that the PML-N had taken bold decisions regarding the issue.

The Online International News Network is reporting² that the PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal told journalists in a press conference (after a meeting with members of a US think thank) that it would not be possible for a democratic government to block the movement for restoration of judges. He added that the APDM (a thirty-two party political alliance opposed to the rule of Musharraf) was united with the PML-N regarding the restoration of the judiciary.

A slight point of confusion for me is the mysteriously named US think tank that Iqbal was meeting with. Is there really a think tank called Fifty, Fifty?

¹Key decisions about lawyers’ drive likely today
²President Musharraf directives being complied with in centre: PML-N from The Online International News Network

Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association has expressed his disappointment with the PPP over the matter of the restoration of the judiciary. He said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani could easily issue an executive order and resolve the judiciary issue within three minutes and warned that the longer the lawyers’ movement was forced to continue, the more vulnerable it would be to “foreign hands.”

Article: PPP has disappointed nation: Aitzaz
Publication: The News