Lawyers observe Thanksgiving Day in NWFP

Lawyers observe Thanksgiving Day in NWFP

* Female lawyers join male fellows in dance

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: In order to express their gratitude and happiness at Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s reinstatement, the city’s legal fraternity observed Thanksgiving Day.
On the Pakistan Bar Council’s call to observe Monday as Thanksgiving Day, hundreds of lawyers gathered at the PHC barroom, where they danced on the beat of drums. Contrary to the conservative Pakhtun traditions of the Frontier province, some female lawyers also joined their male dancing fellows.
Situation turned a bit tense when some lawyers opposed the dancing in the wake of May 12 violence in Karachi and the July 17 killings in Islamabad during lawyers’ rallies, however, senior lawyers succeeded to calm down lawyers from both sides.
The lawyers were chanting anti-military slogans, while congratulating one another for participating in a movement that lasted for more than four months of the judicial crisis.
Addressing lawyers, Peshawar High Court Bar Association President Abdul Lateef Afridi stressed the need of unity against ‘dictatorial forces’.
“We have so far achieved a single point of our agenda while the remaining five points still stand unresolved,” he said, adding, “Our ultimate goal is to rid the country of General Pervez Musharraf and to end military interventions in the country’s politics.”
Advocate Afridi also urged efforts to purge the judiciary of some black sheep, saying the lawyer community should focus its attention on curbing corruption in the judicial circles.
The PHCBA chief added that lawyers should bring to dock all those who were involved in drafting and filing the reference against the chief justice, and who pushed the superior judiciary into a deadlock for over four months.
Meanwhile, an NWFP Bar Council statement said that a province-wide Thanksgiving Day was observed on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council. Lawyers offered supplementary prayers (Salat-i-Shukrana) and distributed sweets to celebrate the chief justice’s reinstatement.
NWFP Bar Council Vice Chairman Fazl Tawwab observed the day in Chakdara, where sweets were distributed among all and sundry. Tawwab thanked lawyers for launching an unprecedented campaign for the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.
He also praised the media for playing its due role in the judicial crisis, saying that despite government curbs, journalists covered the lawyers’ events in a professional way.
Lawyers in Kohat, Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Swat, Batkhela, Daggar, Buner and Chitral districts also observed thanksgiving day. They saluted the victims of the Karachi violence and Islamabad blasts, and said they had sacrificed their lives for judiciary’s independence.