DEMONSTRATION: societies stage Whitehall rally and call on profession to get involved


UK lawyers have been urged to support Pakistani judges and lawyers held under house arrest or subject to alleged intimidation, by demonstrating during President Pervez Musharraf's two-day official visit to the UK this week.



Concerns over the erosion of the rule of law and judicial independence have mounted since President Musharraf sacked former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and forcibly retired senior members of the judiciary, who refused to endorse emergency rule and his second presidential term as a civilian leader.



President Musharraf accused Mr Chaudhry of conspiring to 'derail democracy'. Despite lifting emergency rule in December, senior judges remain under house arrest and lawyers are said to be boycotting the supreme and high courts in protest.



Shams Rahman, treasurer and spokesman for the Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL), is co-ordinating the rally, to be held on Saturday 26 January in Whitehall, London, with the Solicitors International Human Rights Group and Amnesty International.



Mr Rahman, who has just returned from a visit to Pakistan, told the Gazette: 'Pakistan is in a precarious position and what we do will help shape that country. What happens next is bound to affect us in the future. The personal sacrifice these lawyers are making in Pakistan is a real example to all of us.



'Senior people are being harassed, arrested without charge or even having terrorism charges pressed against [them].'



Veteran campaigner and founder of the Society of Black Lawyers, Sibghat Kadri QC, has called for all UK lawyers - not only those from minority groups - to show support: 'All UK lawyers should come because Pakistan is asking, the people of Pakistan are begging for this. Come and show your face.'



No-one was available to comment from the Pakistan High Commission in London, but the high commissioner has agreed to meet Law Society President Andrew Holroyd in the near future.



Anita Rice