A large number of lawyers, protesting against the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment and the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting, have staged a sit-in at D-Chowk in Islamabad as a heavy contingent of the police has made efforts to prevent them from marching on to the Red Zone on Monday. In order to ensure that the protesters do not enter the Red Zone, the police have closed the routes leading from D-Chowk to the Red Zone with barbed wires while two prison vans have also been parked at the site of the protest.

Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Riasat Ali Azad was also at the scene as the lawyers alleged that the police have baton-charged their colleagues at Serena Chowk.  They have further said that some of their colleagues have already reached outside the Supreme Court (SC) while others are protesting outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Also on Monday, Barrister Ali Zafar said that the law and the constitution necessitated the postponement of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting until and unless the issue of seniority of the Supreme Court (SC) judges was resolved.

Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court, he said that if Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Aamer Farooq was made the SC judge, who would be the senior-most judge after him? However, he announced he would attend the meeting. “If we boycott the meeting, then we will fail to meet our objectives.” Barrister Zafar said, “Let the issue of the seniority of judges be resolved.” He wondered why judges from high courts were stuffed into the IHC. “The seniority of these judges will be determined from the start of their service in their parent court,” he opined.

Admitting that the legal fraternity was split on the issue, he expressed the resolve to continue the struggle along with his colleagues. Earlier, leaders of the Lawyers Action Committee, who have reached Islamabad from Karachi and other parts of the country to register their protest against the passage of the 26th Amendment as well as the JCP meeting, have held a demonstration outside a private hotel in the federal capital. Speaking to the protesters, senior lawyer Munir A Malik, while reminding the government that lawyers had held protests in the past too, described the passage of the 26th amendment as ‘an assault on the judiciary and the state’. 

He lamented that nearly all routes in the federal capital had been sealed in order to prevent lawyers from protesting. “Through this protest, we want to convey to the JCP that we are not at all pleased with its meeting.” Speaking on the occasion, another senior lawyer Ali Ahmad Kurd said that he would continue to stand by the lawyers on the issue. “Being in power does not make people great. Those who passed the amendment at 2:00 in the night should be ashamed of themselves. We don’t accept the amendment,” he said, adding, “And we want the judicial commission meeting to be postponed.” 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)