Top leaders of the lawyers’ movement, who led a mammoth long march that converged here on Friday evening, have rejected the proposal of accommodating sitting judges by raising strength of the Supreme Court from 17 to 29 through the Finance Bill.

They demanded that the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, be reinstated without further delay. They further emphasised that judges on the present Dogar Court constituted by President Pervez Musharraf after sacking 60 judges of the superior courts on November 3 last year must resign.

The march that started from Karachi on June 9 and began its third stage from Lahore on Thursday evening reached Rawalpindi on Friday, covering the 280-km route in about 24 hours. Tens of thousands of lawyers, political workers, civil society activists and common people joined the procession on the way.

Top leaders of the lawyers, including Aitzaz Ahsan, Munir Malik, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Hamid Khan and others, addressed the procession at various stops. The march was expected to culminate at the Parade Ground in front of the Parliament House on capital's main boulevard. The PPP-led government reached an accord with the lawyers to ensure unhindered demonstration outside the Parliament House to press for the reinstatement of deposed judges. The procession included lawyers and supporters converging from all four provinces.

Aitzaz Ahsan said no constitutional amendment, package or ordinary legislation was needed to restore the deposed judges. The administration has to facilitate them to resume operation. The judges led by Justice Hameed Dogar, who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) after Musharraf promulgated emergency, had violated the verdict by a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, which declared the emergency and the PCO as illegal. Their cases would be dealt with on the charge of misconduct in accordance with the Constitution.

Ahsan said the lawyers had no intention to destabilise the newly elected coalition nor did they challenge the supremacy of Parliament. But the coalition leaders had failed to honour their pledge to restore deposed judges through a resolution of Parliament by April 30. He said the independence of the judiciary could be established only by restoring independent and honest judges who were illegally sacked by Musharraf in order to create a plaint court.

While the PML-N of Nawaz Sharif has vigorously supported the march, three other coalition partners, the PPP, ANP and the JUI have maintained a distance from lawyers.

Meanwhile, the Finance Bill presented by the PPP-led government on June 11 envisages enhancing the strength of the Supreme Court from 17 to 29 in order to adjust both sets of deposed and the new judges. On previous occasions, the PML-N had accepted the suggestion that the judges who took oath under the PCO after the emergency could be accommodate on ad hoc basis.

Islamabad, June 13
Pakistan expressed “deep concern” over the treatment given to Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails after the bodies of a young man and 60-year-old women were handed over at the border on Friday.

“We have called upon the Indian authorities to thoroughly investigate the causes leading to the deaths of these unfortunate Pakistani prisoners,” a foreign office spokesman said in a statement.

Many Pakistanis were angered earlier this year when the bodies of two other prisoners were returned, after Pakistan had released an Indian who had been given death sentence for spying.

Relatives of the prisoners waited at the Wagha border to receive the bodies of Rashida Bibi and Abdul Alim. Alim was arrested in 2001 while crossing into India, and Bibi was taken into custody upon her arrival in India in 2006, the relatives told journalists.

They said they found no signs of physical abuse on the bodies but would request autopsies.

The Pakistani spokesman hoped that the Pakistan-India judicial committee on prisoners would take note of the matter when it goes to meet Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails. — Reuters

Just two days after dethroned king Gyanendra Shah evacuated the Narayanhity Palace, the Nepal government today decided to hoist the national flag inside the courtyard of Narayanhity amid a function on Sunday.

In a special invitation letter, home minister Krishna Prasad Situala said on the occasion of the historic proclamation of the Constituent Assembly that declared Nepal a federal, democratic republic, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala would hoist the national flag at the Narayanhity Palace Sunday afternoon.

A few days ago, immediately after the May 28 declaration, the high-level task force formed by the ruling seven-party alliance had suggested the government to organise a grand celebration at the Narayanhity Palace and hoist the national flag there once ousted king Gyanendra evacuates the palace.

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly on May 28 had declared Nepal a federal, democratic republic state and directed the government to oust the dethroned king from the Narayanhity Palace and change it into a national museum.

Expressing firm commitment to respect the historic proclamation, former king Gyanendra and his wife Komal had shifted to the Nagarjun Palace, located 10 km on the outskirts of Kathmandu, evacuating the Narayanhity Palace Wednesday evening.

On May 29, after receiving tremendous pressure from public, Gyanendra had directed his palace officials to hoist the national flag inside the Narayanhity Palace by removing the royal flag “insignia of the Shah Dynasty”. 

London, June 13
Priced at a whooping one million pounds, the world's most expensive handbag will surely burn a hole in your pocket.

The clutch, made of platinum and set with over 2,000 diamonds amounting to 208 carats, has been unveiled here. The versatile bag can be put to many uses. Its diamond-encrusted strap can be detached and worn as a necklace or bracelet.

The bag is created by Japanese designer Ginza Tanaka. It is priced at more than a million pounds and is the showpiece of the London Jewellery Week, which began on June 11 and will end on June 15. — UNI

BRIEFLY

Bus carrying Cuban migrants hijacked
MEXICO CITY: Armed men hijacked a bus carrying 34 detained Cuban migrants in southern Mexico after forcing immigration agents away at gunpoint, officials said. Eight assailants blocked a road in southern Chiapas state on Wednesday, stopping the bus carrying the Cubans and forcing the unarmed immigration agents to get off, said an official of Mexico's National Immigration Institute on Thursday. None of the agents was harmed. — AP

Flip-flops ‘linked to skin cancer’
LONDON: Wearing sandals and flip-flops can put you at risk of developing skin cancer on your feet. Researchers have earlier warned of some link between open-toed footwears and skin patches. Now, medicos have also joined the attack by saying that sporting them can increase a person's chance of getting lesions as the skin becomes exposed to intense sunlight, a key cause of skin tumours, or melanomas. Research has revealed that only half of patients with foot melanoma survive. — PTI

Madonna's brother to publish book on life with her
NEW YORK: US pop star Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone has written a memoir called “Life With My Sister Madonna” to be published next month by Simon and Schuster. It is based on his life and 47 years of growing up with and working with his sister, the most famous woman in the world. The book will be published on July 15, a month before Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday. — Reuters

NASA: Discovery launch pad flawed from start
CAPE CANAVERAL: The Apollo-era launch pad used to shoot space shuttle Discovery into orbit two weeks ago may have been flawed from the day it was built, and will need weeks of work to fix all the lift off damage, NASA has said. About 5,300 bricks flew off the pad during Discovery's launch on May 31, exposing a thick concrete wall underneath. It would be repaired in time for the next shuttle flight in October. — AP

Friday 13th no more unlucky: Dutch study
AMSTERDAM: Dutch statisticians have established that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday. A study published on Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. —Reuters