CJ lawyers blame govt, MQM for Karachi violence

ISLAMABAD: The lawyers of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Sunday held the federal and provincial governments and MQM responsible for the bloodshed in Karachi.
Addressing a news conference here, Aitzaz Ahsan said the chief justice wanted to address the members of the bar but MQM acting as surrogate to the government took revenge from Karachi.
"Pervez Musharraf has called me the political advisor of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in fact I am his legal advisor, not political," Aitzaz said.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had a simple schedule, he said. The lawyers didn't ask any political party to hold a rally, they did that on their own, he said.
MQM has proved that entry into Karachi will be disallowed without permission from Altaf Hussain, Aitzaz Ahsan said. They held an armed rally with prior intentions of violence, he alleged.
The CJP counsel said that Justice Iftikhar had addressed five gatherings within two months without any minor unpleasant incident.
The government, Pervaiz Elahi and MQM have shattered the code of conduct recently issued by the Supreme Court, so the apex court should take suo motu notice of it, he said.
Another lawyer of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry Munir A. Malik said that May 12 schedule of Karachi visit of the chief justice was announced on May 5 but the Sindh High Court premises was sealed from Friday night and a bid made to kidnap the chief justice.
The counsels of the chief justice announced countrywide strike and four-hour token hunger strike on Monday.
They said that Justice Chaudhry will visit Karachi again and will be received peacefully. The Sindh government served notices to 18 advocates, accompanying Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to not enter Karachi for 30 days due to law and order situation. - Agencies