Re: Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi manhandled by lawyers-Aitezaz plans to resign as President S
Yes, I believe that this is one of the lawyers who Justice Tariq Mehmood was referring to, when he said he saw leading lawyers beating up Dr Sher Afghan. The lawyers movement has now been warned by a leading PPP Senator Dr Babar Awan to end their confrontational policies now, or risk even worse violence.
**No one should dictate terms to parliament: Babar Awan
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‘Parliament cannot be subjected to any coercion to do certain things’
Friday, April 11, 2008
ISLAMABAD: The central leader of Pakistan People’s Party, Senator Dr Babar Awan, on Thursday expressed concern over threats to parliament and said no one should dictate terms to the sovereign body representing the will of the entire nation. ** Criticising the role of some bar leaders, he told a news conference that there was no room for ‘kingship’ in any organisation of lawyers and no one should run a bar association like a king, as leadership changed in regular bar elections. He warned against using terms like ‘countdown’ and said such threatening language should be avoided.** Commenting on the prevailing situation in the country, Dr Babar Awan said there was a dire need to launch a “Bardasht Karo Tehreek (movement for tolerance)” instead of promoting politics of intolerance in the country.
**Politics of torture, character assassination and intolerance towards opponents over difference of opinion is worse than dictatorship, Senator Babar Awan said. **“The lawyers have rendered sacrifices for the cause of democracy,” Babar Awan said and pointed that he and a number of other lawyers had faced imprisonment during the struggle.
It was, therefore, incumbent upon all to eschew any behaviour that might hurt democracy in the country, he added. ”Let us beware of provocateurs,” he said, adding that attempts were being made to create a strife between lawyers and the public, which was against national interest. Meanwhile, former law minister Abdul Hafeez Pirzada told journalists in Islamabad that the opposition members in the federal and provincial assemblies were under pressure, which would be harmful for democracy. The former law minister criticised what he called threats of long march and storming of parliament by some leaders of the lawyers’ community for restoration of the deposed judges.Such ‘ultimatums’ are fraught with repercussions for the smooth running of democratic institutions, he said, adding that it was unjustified and wrong to put pressure on parliament and assemblies. ”Parliament is a sovereign body which cannot be subjected to any coercion to do certain things,” he said. Pirzada said the issue of the deposed judges was before parliament and there was no justification for giving deadlines to the elected representatives of the people. He expressed the view that the Murree Declaration was in a “raw shape” and it needed to be improved through discussion between its signatories. Pirzada said it appeared that the declaration had been made in a hurry and differences between the two parties had started coming to the fore. In reply to a question about the existing Supreme Court, Pirzada said lawyers like Khalid Anwar, Akram Sheikh, Babar Awan and Latif Khosa were appearing before it in various cases which, according to him, showed their acceptance of the court.