Pakistan’s top body of lawyers announced a countrywide strike on Thursday to protest what it called “unconstitutional” efforts of the Imran Khan government to extend the army chief’s tenure and block the verdict against Pervez Musharraf.
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Wednesday issued a statement that lawyers across Pakistan would boycott courts and hold protest meetings on Thursday.
Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa’s original tenure is set to expire on Thursday at midnight and he can continue as the army chief if the Supreme Court decides the case in his favour before that.
The apex court has adjourned the proceedings until Thursday.
PBC chairman Sher Mohammad Khan and vice-chairman Amjad Shah “strongly condemned the belated efforts and maneuverings by the federal government” to amend laws and made rectification in the notification to give extension to Gen Bajwa, the statement said.
The bar council also took strong exception to the successful attempt by the federal government to stop a special tribunal from announcing its verdict in the high treason case involving former military dictator Musharraf. They termed the government's move as “unjustified and unprecedented”.
The special court on November 19 concluded the trial proceedings in the case against Musharraf for declaring a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, and had said that a verdict would be announced on November 28.
However, the Islamabad High court on Wednesday stopped the special court from announcing its judgment.
The lawyers announced to observe a full-day strike when they will hold protest and condemnation meetings against the government’s measures.
The protest by lawyers may rub salt on the wounds of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government which has faced the wrath of the Supreme Court for failing to address the legal shortcomings in the notification to give extension to the army chief.
Emergency meeting
With Bajwa’s 3-year extension in limbo, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday chaired an emergency cabinet meeting with the top general to discuss the legal implications of a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday.
The government’s legal team briefed the Prime Minister and his cabinet over objections raised by the apex court during Wednesday’s hearing, The Express Tribune reported.
Bajwa also attended the meeting being held at the Prime Minister’s Office, Express News and Dawn News reported.
The high-level meeting is called to consult on amendments made in rules of the Army Act, the reports said.
Soon after the surprise move by the apex court, the cabinet approved a new notification for “extending” the tenure of Bajwa, hours after the Supreme Court suspended a notification issued by the government on August 19, raising legal questions regarding his reappointment as the COAS.
Later, senior cabinet members, education minister Shafqat Mahmood and railways minister Sheikh Rashid, along with Prime Minister’s special assistant Shahzad Akbar, told reporters that the cabinet has decided to withdraw the August 19 notification on the reappointment of Bajwa as the army chief in view of the Supreme Court observations and approved a new notification.
