All Pakistan Lawyers Convention on Saturday expressed its concern over the references filed against Justice Faez Isa and Justice K K Agha and in Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). A resolution unanimously adopted by All Pakistan Lawyers Convention, which was held at Karachi Bar Association, stated that the references against Justice Faez Isa and Justice K K Agha are frivolous, concocted and mala fide and are in fact an attempt by the government and intelligence agencies to muzzle and remove independent judges and subjugate the independence of judiciary.

The resolution demanded that petitions filed by Justice Isa and the Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Associations must be placed before a full court of Supreme Court for hearing because SJC is no longer competent forum to hear the Presidential Reference "after its demonstrated bias while disposing of the second reference."

It called upon the representatives of bar councils and bar associations to boycott all full court references and receptions for retiring Supreme Court judges. The convention also called for all lawyers throughout Pakistan to converge outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad and demonstrate unity on future date of hearings by the Supreme Court and/or SJC in relation to the references.

The Convention condemned the "prohibitions" and "restrictions" imposed upon the freedom of the media and the "pressures" placed upon them to do "selective" reporting. The Convention endorsed the statement of the Pakistan Bar Council and its vice chairman, Syed Amjad Shah, regarding the undesirability of granting 3-year tenure extension to the Chief of the Army Staff.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019