The Pakistan Bar Council has demanded a judicial inquiry headed by deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry into former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council has demanded a judicial inquiry headed by deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry into former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination.
"Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has become a martyr of democracy by laying down her life for the cause of democracy," said a resolution unanimously adopted by the Council.
The Council vowed to continue the lawyers' movement for the reinstatement of judges who were deposed for not endorsing the state of emergency proclaimed by President Pervez Musharraf.
Calling for a probe into Bhutto's assassination by Chaudhry, the PBC said, "Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts are illegally and unconstitutionally being prevented from performing their functions."
The Council said Bhutto's assassination on December 27 has plunged the country into a constitutional and political crisis. It also accused Musharraf's regime of having failed to provide adequate security to the Pakistan People's Party leader.
"The Musharraf regime has failed to protect people's life and property in the aftermath of Mohtarma's murder," it said.
The Council asked Musharraf to step down to pave the way for a government of national consensus. It also demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq and demanded that a new CEC be appointed.
The Council called for free and fair elections under a new Election Commission to be constituted after consultations with all political parties.
The resolution said that the current caretaker government and the CEC were "partisan, incompetent and spineless" and could not hold fair and transparent elections.
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