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Islamabad: Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, detained president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has announced he will withdraw his candidature for the January 8 parliamentary elections in solidarity with the movement of the lawyers' community for independent judiciary and constitutional rule.
In a statement from his Lahore home, which has been a declared a sub-jail, Ahsan said he would stand with the lawyers' community in the "heroic struggle."
Ahsan had filed nomination papers to contest election to parliament from a Lahore constituency on the ticket of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He has authorised two lawyer colleagues in writing to withdraw his candidature.
"Although I believe victory is quite certain I choose to stand with the community of lawyers," he said, adding he had informed PPP leadership about his decision.
Another prominent lawyer, Ahmad Ali Kurd, who is under detention at Quetta in Balochistan province, also said he was withdrawing his candidacy.
PPP chairperson and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto told reporters in Karachi yesterday the party accepted the decision of Aitzaz Ahsan.
"He was given party ticket on his request, but he has now decided not to stand in the election on the demand of the lawyers' community and we accept his decision," Bhutto said.
Hundreds of lawyers rallied in Lahore yesterday, demanding restoration of the judiciary to the status it had before the November 3 imposition of emergency rule and reinstatement of the sacked judges including former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
The Lahore High Court bar association, through a resolution, asked lawyers who had filed nomination papers to contest the January polls to withdraw the same on December 15, the date fixed for the purpose by the Election Commission. Reports said lawyers in Karachi held a meeting at which local bar association leaders vowed to continue the struggle for independent judiciary and rule of law.
In Rawalpindi near Islamabad, cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan told a gathering of protesting lawyers that his party along with several other components of the All Parties Democratic Movement would not become part of the "sham" electoral process aimed to perpetuate President Musharraf's hold on power.
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