By Xinhua,
Islamabad : Participants of lawyers’ long march started reaching the Pakistani capital of Islamabad Friday to call for the restoration of sacked judges.
The caravans of lawyers from different parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled-Kashmir started gathering outside the Parliament House. The convoys of political parties have also joined lawyers’ caravans.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has completely sealed off the roads leading towards the Parliament House and the Constitutional Avenue in front of it. Police contingents have been deployed at the entry routes of Islamabad.
The government and representatives of the legal community signed a 20-point agreement Thursday to maintain law and order in the federal capital, Islamabad, where lawyers’ long march and protest program will culminate Friday. The organizers of the protest march have been told that they will be responsible for any disturbance in the city on the occasion.
On Thursday, Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif regretted that lawyers and the masses had to struggle for the restoration of the judiciary even in the presence of a new elected government, urging the people to focus on the reinstatement of the deposed judges instead of worrying about President Pervez Musharraf ‘s ouster.
Musharraf sacked some 60 judges including the country’s chief justice when they refused to take oath under the provisional constitutional order after he declared rule of emergency on Nov. 3,2007.