Ahsan leaves byelection race to prepare for lawyers' march

Islamabad: Supreme Court Bar Association president Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan has withdrawn his candidacy for the byelections, saying he wants to concentrate on preparations for a planned long march by lawyers to press for the reinstatement of deposed judges.

According to media reports, Ahsan, announcing his decision on Sunday in Lahore, said the long march would be launched from Multan on June 10.

Ahsan, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said he had decided to withdraw his application seeking a party ticket to run in the by-polls.

He said the long march would be a decisive factor in the struggle of the lawyer community for the restoration of the judges President Persez Musharraf had sacked in November last year. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said it will support the lawyers' long march programme, which would feature a virtual caravan of lawyers who would travel from Multan to Lahore all the way to Islamabad.

Support for government

The PML-N has pulled its nine ministers from the federal cabinet over the non-reinstatement of the dozens of sacked judges, including former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. But the party has vowed to continue its support to the government within parliament and the PPP has reciprocated by asking its ministers in the Punjab provincial government headed by the PML-N to stay on.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has not accepted the resignations of the PML-N ministers and media reports, quoting sources in the two parties, said a meeting between Sharif and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was likely in the coming days to resolve the differences.

Law Minister Farooq H. Naek said a resolution for restoration of the judges could be tabled before a joint session of the two houses of parliament ahead of the parliament's budget session, expected to start early next month. In case of a patch-up the planned march by lawyers could be cancelled.

Meanwhile, a multi-party alliance that had boycotted the February general elections announced yesterday it would organise a broad-based national convention in Islamabad on June 1 to call for the reinstatement of the judges.