LAHORE, June 16: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Hamid Khan claimed on Monday that the Lahore registry office of the association had been sealed after its Islamabad office closure.
But a Supreme Court official denied this claim, saying no such orders were received from Islamabad and the office was still in the custody of the SCBA.
The SCBA office in Islamabad was sealed on June 10, one day after the lawyers staged a demonstration outside the Supreme Court building against the judges availing extended tenures under the LFO.
Hamid Khan told Dawn on Monday that the office had been sealed since Saturday when SCBA members, who were to attend an executive committee meeting, were stopped by police from entering the office.
“We were informed that the office had been sealed after SCBA’s employees, who were having lunch, were expelled from the office by police accompanied by the SC officials,” he said.
Later, the scheduled meeting of the executive committee was held at the office of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. He claimed that the sealing orders of the SCBA office were made by the chief justice of Pakistan.
Asked whether any written orders were shown to the SCBA regarding the sealing of both the offices, Mr Khan claimed that no such orders were produced and warned that the Joint Action Committee would shortly come up with a strategy regarding the closure of the offices.
SC Lahore registry assistant registrar Pervez Ahmad made a counter-claim saying the office had not been sealed by the SC officials.
“The SCBA members might have come to the office on Saturday after the termination of official hours when the offices are closed at the registry, and they might have taken it as the office sealing,” he maintained.
He denied that any SCBA official had approached him on Monday with regard to the sealing of office, adding that the SC administration was not authorized to seal the office.
Mr Pervez claimed the SCBA offices were currently in the custody of the Pakistan Bar Council and the SC administration had nothing to do with them.
“We have simply provided them a space to hold meetings and we pay for the utility bills of these offices and nothing else,” he said.
Pakistan Bar Council’s executive committee Chairman Kazim Khan supported the claim of the SCBA’s president, saying the office had been closed through police force.
He said the Bar members could not be deprived of their legal right to use these offices. He termed the alleged sealing of the SCBA office the last nail in the coffin of Bar-bench relationship, saying no such step was initiated even during the reign of Gen Ziaul Haq, when the lawyers were jailed.
