News
Sunday, July 04, 2010
‘Doors for dictators closed after 18th Amendment’
KASUR: The door to dictatorship has been closed after the passage of the 18th Amendment, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan said on Saturday.
“Now no dictator will dare derail democracy by ambushing a democratic government,” he said while addressing the Pattoki Bar Association (PBA).
Appreciating lawyers’ role in the restoration of an independent judiciary, he said, “No one can stop me from meeting lawyers.”
Awan said grants for bar associations were a routine matter, and were also awarded by the previous governments.
He announced that residential colonies for lawyers would be constructed, and the federal government would provide land, while the provincial governments could be approached for development expenditures.
Criticising the political elements who had supported dictators in the past, he said they could not destabilise democracy as the lawyers were standing shoulder to shoulder by the government to foil their nefarious designs. The law minister announced a grant of one million rupees for the PBA and Rs 200,000 for construction of a shed in the court.
Awan met with local reporters and said that the present government believes in press freedom and all facilities are being provided to journalists to help them perform their duties in a free atmosphere.
Condemning the suicide attack at Data Darbar, the minister said the federal government would provide all possible assistance to the provincial government to protect religious places in the country.
Earlier, addressing the Chichawatni Bar Association, the law minister said the lawyer community had made huge sacrifices for the restoration of the judiciary. He said the passage of the seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) award and the 18th Amendment was a great achievement of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) led government.
Rejecting the impression of bargaining with lawyers to change their loyalties, he said the PPP did not believe in “briefcase” politics. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk