Rivals scuffle as Pak lawyers pass resolution against Musharraf

Anti and Pro-Musharraf lawyers scuffle outside of the High Court in Lahore on Friday. Scuffles broke out between rival groups at a meeting of Pakistani lawyers called to condemn the rewriting of the constitution by President and army chief General Pervez Musharraf. Photo: AFP

A group of pro-Musharraf lawyers shouted slogans when the Lahore High Court Bar Association president Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari tabled a resolution to intensify the struggle against Musharraf's constituional amendments.

During the uproar, a majority of the lawyers passed the resolution, despite heated opposition from a dissident faction.

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The resolution denounced Lahore Bar Association president Mansoorur Rehman Afridi and another lawyer, Arif Chaudhry, for having invited Musharraf to a "sham" convention in the eastern city at the weekend.

At the meeting, Musharraf declared he would remain in uniform as long as he deemed necessary.

The resolution also demanded that sovereignty of the parliament must be established by undoing the constitutional amendments, which they said were arbitrarily introduced by Musharraf.

The lawyers resolved to invite all opposition leaders to the forum in order "to intensify the struggle for the restoration of real democracy, supremacy of the parliament, sanctity of the constitution and independence of the judiciary".

Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in October 1999, declared himself president in June 2001 and two months before last year's elections unilaterally extended his mandates as president and army chief until 2007.

Musharraf's dual posts have been under fire from the lawyers' community as well as opposition parties led by a six-party hardline Islamic alliance of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

They want him to give up both posts and submit to a standard presidential election by lawmakers. The parties have brought the eight-month old parliament to a virtual standstill through their protests.