ABA Asks Lawyers to Sign Online Pakistan Petition

Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2007 — The president of the American Bar Association is calling on American lawyers to sign an online petition supporting full restoration of the rule of law in Pakistan.

In a letter sent Dec. 3 to ABA members, and to leaders of all state and local bar associations, President William H. Neukom said he will present the petition to the Pakistani Embassy on Dec. 13.He is urging lawyers to sign the petition and to pass the link to other lawyers.

“I urge you not to look aside, as if standing up for the rule of law is somebody else’s job. Add your name, be seen and be counted,” Neukom wrote.

The petition calls on Pakistan to “restore the Constitution of Pakistan; reinstate Pakistan’s Supreme Court justices; and free those lawyers and civil leaders who have been wrongly jailed.”

Neukom noted that “each day, pressure brought by Americans and people of other nations is forcing Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf to soften his assault on the rule of law. But he has failed to address some of his most destructive actions.”

As of noon Dec. 4, more than 10,000 lawyers had signed the petition.

Further information about the ABA’s response to the situation in Pakistan can obtained at http://www.abanet.org.

With more than 413,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.