Lahore, Apr. 9: Aitzaz Ahsan has decided to resign from the post of president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in protest against the unwarranted thrashing of the former federal law minister, Dr Sher Afgan Khan Niazi.

Ahsan said that his resignation is with immediate effect, but announced he would continue with the lawyers movement for the restoration of sacked judiciary.

It expected that the president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), Anwar Kamal, the president of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), Manzoor Qadir, and other members of the SCBA, will persuade him to take back his decision to resign. Lawyers are meeting today and tommorrow (Wednesday and Thursday) to deliberate on the matter.

Ahsan said that Chief Justice of Pakistan had also asked him not to resign. He said that if the elected member of the bar would resign en-bloc it would damage the lawyers community which Musharraf desired.

Talking to the media at his residence on Tuesday, Ahsan condemned the assault on Niazi in the strongest possible terms. he urged the lawyers to remain peaceful, and claimed that non-lawyers too were involved in the attack on Niazi.

He described the police as inefficient and irresponsible, and in his view, the incident was designed by the authorities to sabotage the lawyers movement against Musharraf. (ANI)