PAKISTAN Bar Council's member Hamid Khan's reservation about the ruling coalition's decision to put the issue of restoration of the judiciary on the backburner until the impeachment of General Musharraf is in line with the feeling prevalent in the legal community. Talking to BBC on Monday, he went to the extent of saying that the impeachment might be a ploy to further delay the judges' reinstatement. Mr Khan, however, made it clear that the legal fraternity would decide its future course of action in its meeting scheduled for next Friday if the judges' issue was not resolved till August 14. Some of his other colleagues believe that the ruling leadership is not sincere in seeing the impeachment through and is only trying to deceive the people who had voted the two mainstream parties into power, hoping that they would revive the rule of law and rid this beleaguered country of tyranny. The lawyers seem to be picking holes in the move without realising that General Musharraf is a real stumbling block to the process of transition to democracy, including to the restoration of the judges. After his political allies were routed in the last general elections, he did everything possible to derail democracy. He made the Presidency a centre of intrigues. The latest in a series was a conspiracy to restore eight judges of the Sindh High Court but it was thwarted by the timely intervention of the ruling leadership. Leaders of the legal community who criticise the impeachment decision should not ignore that the restoration of SHC judges could have put their movement in jeopardy. Mr Khan and his colleagues would be well advised to show patience and let the elected government deal with these issues according to its own priorities. Calls for strikes and protests will only vitiate the political atmosphere. The lawyers must put pressure on the ruling leadership not to renege on its commitment to reinstate the deposed judges since it was a major factor behind their historic victory in the February 18 elections. At the same time they should be patient and see the impeachment process through peacefully.