Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Secretary Qamar Zaman Qureshi announced on Tuesday to launch the Pakistan Zindabad Movement to create awareness among masses about nationalism in wake of the US operation on Pakistani soil.
Holding a press conference at the Supreme Court (SC) building, he said that no reaction was given by the nation on the operation by the US Army in Abbottabad, which suggests that nationalism is on the verge of collapse. “Presently, we are divided between political parties, provincialism and ethnicity and no one talks about nationalism,” he said.
Qamar said that when the earthquake and flood hit, we were united as a nation and showed complete solidarity but surprisingly, the same spirit is not seen when it comes to the issue of sovereignty. The SCBA secretary said that he, along with colleagues, would go to all provinces to promote nationalism, which is at its lowest ebb. He said that after 9/11, no one sought resignation from any top US official on biggest the security failure in US history but in Pakistan, everyone is demanding resignations of government functionaries.
Qamar said that he was not in favour of seeking resignations, as it was not the job of lawyers. It is up to politicians to seek resignations and we only want to unite the nation, which is fully capable of defending the homeland, the SCBA secretary said. He said that they will also consult top lawyers of the country to discuss the possibility of taking the US operation to the International Court of Justice. Responding to a question, Qamar said that he had not sought the consent of SCBA President Asma Jahangir before announcing the movement adding that Asma is very a patriotic lady.
Answering another question, he said that the issue was not taken up in the executive body meeting of the SCBA, as he has launched the movement in his personal capacity. Qamar said that he would not use the SCBA’s platform for the movement and spend money from his own pocket.
