Dawn - February 03, 2008
Aitzaz, Tariq under detention, again
by Syed Faisal Shakeel and Nasir Iqbal
LAHORE / ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: The Punjab government put president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan under detention for a period of 30 days on Saturday, after he was stopped from flying out to Sukkur at the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, under an order of the Sindh government, issued earlier in the day.
Also on Saturday, Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood was put under “preventive custody” by the Islamabad administration to pre-empt what it called his plans to create unrest in the capital.
Both Mr Ahsan and Justice Mehmood have been leading the legal fraternity’s ongoing campaign against the Musharraf government. And both were set free by the authorities only in recent days — Mr Ahsan on Thursday night and Justice Mehmood on Friday evening.
Mr Ahsan spoke with media personnel, addressed lawyers and met PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif on Friday. He had been put under solitary confinement in Adiyala jail, Rawalpindi, on Nov 3 and later placed under house arrest at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
Talking to reporters at the airport on Saturday, Mr Ahsan said the authorities had stopped him from boarding a Sukkur-bound aircraft. He was given a restraining order.
He was of the opinion that he should not have been stopped from proceeding to Sukkur because the restraining order should have been enforced if he had actually reached Sindh.
When Mr Ahsan got to his home from the airport, he was handed over a fresh detention order under Section 5(1) of the Maintenance of Public Order, according to his associate Arshad Tarar. The MPO deals with preventive detentions and under it the government may direct any person to remain at a specific place for a specified period.
However, Mr Ahsan says neither the federal nor the provincial government can keep him under detention beyond a period of 90 days, under Article 10(4) of the Constitution. After the expiry of such a period, the government is bound to seek the formation of a review board, comprising judges of the higher judiciary, to regulate any detention.
Meanwhile, the order served on Justice Mehmood — issued under Section 3(1) of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Ordinance 1960 — was signed by the district magistrate of the Islamabad Capital Territory. The order cited the Special Branch’s report on “Justice Mehmood’s plans to create unrest in Islamabad”.
It claimed that he had established contacts with individuals who intended to hold public gatherings in violation of applicable laws. “Your speeches, presence or other activities may promote feeling of hatred and ill will among general public, though, and thus posing problem of maintenance of law and order,” said the notice.
The order was served on Justice Mehmood soon after he had reached his home after consulting his doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Assailing the government’s move, senior advocate Athar Minallah said: “Even the (earlier) 90-day detention was illegal as there were no grounds (for it). But since there is no independent judiciary, no relief can either be claimed nor fundamental rights protected.”
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Daily Times - February 04, 2008
People protest against Aitzaz’s house arrest
* CCP members distribute pamphlets on Canal Road
* PGC denounced for thrashing SAC members
* People urged to participate in today’s car rally to Islamabad
Staff Report
LAHORE: Lawyers, journalists, students and other civil society activists on Sunday protested outside Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan’s house, demanding that the government should release him and other detained lawyers and restore the deposed judges.
On the call of the Concerned Citizens of Pakistan (CCP), a non-governmental organisation, the demonstrators thronged in front of Aitzaz’s house where he was detained on Saturday for another 30 days. The protestors, holding national flags, posters and black flags, shouted slogans against the government for detaining Aitzaz Ahsan, Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood and Ali Ahmed Kurd, after the completion of their 90-day detentions.
Justice (r) Nasira Javed Iqbal, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mrs Bushra Aitzaz, Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique and many other renowned personalities participated in the protest.
The protestors recited the national anthem and marched towards the Canal Road. They stood alongside the road in a row, chanting slogans and waving flags. Some members of the CCP distributed pamphlets – inscribed with poetry and quotations to appreciate the deposed judges and the protesting lawyers – among the passers by. After staying there for half an hour, the protestors returned to Aitzaz’s residence and then dispersed.
Before the march, some speakers addressed the protestors and urged them to continue participating in the protests for the ‘noble cause’.
CCP activist Hamid Zaman said the protest was necessary to create awareness among the masses to initiate a decisive movement against the ‘unconstitutional’ government. He denounced the administration of the Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) for allegedly thrashing the members of the Students Action Committee (SAC), and the police for not registering a case against the accused.
Beena Qureshi of the CCP, addressing the protestors, urged them to maintain the momentum of the movement for the deposed judges and detained lawyers. She requested them to participate in a car rally, which would proceed to Islamabad from Aitzaz’s residence on Monday (today).
She said, from Islamabad the rally would head for Peshawar, then to Sindh, Balochistan and then back to Lahore. She said the rally was to mobilise the people to join the movement for the independence of the judiciary. “The rally will give a message of unity to the people of all four provinces,” she said and added that the CCP would continue its struggle till the restoration of all the deposed judges.
Advocate Anwar Kamal said the lawyers’ movement would be a success when the chief justice and all the deposed judges were reinstated. Shoaibuddin, a journalist, said the media was supporting the movement for the restoration of the judiciary. He said the government had made bread and butter ‘out of reach’ for the masses.
He said the revival of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was necessary for an independent judiciary and for the relief of the common people.
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The Post
February 4, 2008
Rally protests Aitzaz's re-arrest
Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Scores of people staged a protest against the extension of house arrest of Aitzaz and expressed solidarity with him outside the residence of SCBA president Aitzaz Ahsan here on Sunday.
People from all walks of life participated in the protest against the extension of the house arrest of the SCBA president under MPO Article-10 for another 30 days. The protest rally was started at 3:00pm and continued for 50 minutes. Later, the participants of the rally dispersed peacefully.
The protesters marched towards The Mall led by Dr Yasmin Rahid, Dr. Khalid Javed, Venia Qureshi, Syeda Feroza Arbab, Anwar Iqbal and Azher Siddique. They raised slogans in favour of Aitzaz Ahsan and demanded the government immediately release him. Speakers also vowed to continue their protest for the restoration of deposed judges.
The protestors raised slogans and paid rich tribute to detained lawyers and judges. They termed the extension of house arrest of Aitzaz unconstitutional.
Bushra Atizaz said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain's statement regarding an oath taken by deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in 1999 baseless and incorrect.
To a query about the extension of house arrest of Aitzaz, she said that she did not know which power forced the government to take such unconstitutional action despite the fact that earlier, Attorney General of Pakistan Abdul Qayyum declared that Aitzaz had been freed.
