The protesting lawyers rejected the ‘reappointment’ of judges in the Sindh High Court, with Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan telling the Lahore High Court Bar “We want reinstatement, not reappointment of judges”.

The daily protest would continue till the demands were met. The Lahore High Court lawyers staged their sit-in before the Punjab Assembly Secretariat.

However, the District Bar did so in the PMG Crossing on the Lower Mall. Traffic remained jammed for several hours even after the sit-in came to an end. Some people raised slogans against PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari.

Although Aitzaz Ahsan told them not to do so, charged lawyers continued with their chants. Activists of the PMLN, Jamaat-e-Islami, the Tehrik-e- Insaaf, Labour Party and Khaksar Tehrik also participated in the protest.

While addressing the Lahore High Court Bar, Aitzaz Ahsan said that the lawyers’ movement would continue unabated.

He regretted that some judges felt tired and they had taken the oath against the principled stand of the legal fraternity.

The Supreme Court Bar chief claimed that it was because of the lawyers’ pressure that the PPP and the PML-N leadership had signed various agreements.

He believed that the government would ultimately have to restore all judges. Rejecting Law Minister Farooq Naek’s argument that there couldn’t be two Chief Justices of Pakistan at the same time, Aitzaz Ahsan said the minister must bear in mind that Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar had not been accorded recognition by the slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

He said the late former prime minister said that Justice Chaudhry was ‘My Chief Justice’, implying that if there could not be two chief justices, Justice Dogar should be asked to quit.

He pledged that the lawyers’ campaign would be entirely peaceful. Aitzaz said Justice Chaudhry would visit the European parliament on November 4. Similarly, he said, Justice Chaudhry would be given life membership of the New York Bar on November 17.