KARACHI, July 10: The city lawyers boycotted on Thursday the court proceedings on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
Hundreds of lawyers, led by the leaders of PBC, SCBA, Sindh Bar Council (SBC), Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), marched through the corridors of the City Courts.
The PBC and SCBA had given the call for a day-long protest against the sealing of the SCBA’s offices in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.
A spokesman for the KBA said the majority of lawyers expressed unity by not attending the court proceedings, though a few others did appear before the courts.
The lawyers, including those belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League Lawyers Forum (Nawaz group), Pakistan Peoples Lawyers Forum and Islamic Lawyers Movement, wore black arm-bands and chanted anti-government slogans.
The KBA held a general body session at the city courts and endorsed the decision of the PBC for a complete boycott of the court proceedings.
The participants were addressed by the KBA president Mohammed Ali Abbasi, General Secretary, Sathi Ishaq, vice-chairman of the SBC, Yasin Azad, Sadiq Hidayatullah, Nahid Afzal, Sarfaraz Khan, Mustafa Lakhani, vice-president of the SCBA, Haji Akram Zuberi, Habibur Rahman, Fatima Ismail, Shahmim Ahmed, Nasir Abbas, Shabana Saleem, Khalid Mehmood Tanoli, Sohail Abbas and others.
Later, the KBA session unanimously adopted resolutions.
The KBA meeting vehemently condemned the sealing of the SCBA offices and rejected the government’s decision to this effect.
The participants also demanded of the government to revoke all “black laws” including Legal Framework Order.
The KBA session also rejected the decision of giving a three-year extension to the services of the Supreme Court and high court judges, and demanded of the government to abide by the Constitution regarding the retirement age of the judges.
The lawyers, terming the recent Quetta massacre inefficiency and negligence on the part of the government, demanded of the prime minister and interior minister to tender their resignations.
They also asked the judges, who had attained the retirement age and completed their services, to voluntarily return to bar.
Eye-witnesses said a large number of litigants — witnesses, paralegal staff, investigation officers, — left the city court premises in dismay as even the stamp venders did not turn up due to the boycott.
The proceedings at the Sindh High Court, however, continued as usual, with a large number of lawyers appearing before different benches.
SBC: Lawyers will intensify their struggle against the Legal Framework Order, the Sindh Bar Council announced here on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference in the SBC office on the protest day against curbs on the use of Supreme Court bar rooms, council vice-chairman Mohammad Yasin Azad and members Mustafa Lakhani, Mohammad Sadiq Hidayatullah, Mohammad Aqil and Mohammad Ismail Memon said a lawyers’ convention scheduled to be held in Quetta on July 26 would decide the future course of action. The convention would be preceded by a meeting of the joint action committee on July 25.
Condemning the closure of bar rooms at the Supreme Court in Islamabad and its registries in the provincial capitals when the court is not in session, they said the chief justice’s decision was unprecedented. The government had succeeded in driving a wedge between the bench and the bar. The lawyers would not, however, be cowed down by such actions.
The SBC members said the judiciary was the only organ of the state which had not been given a fresh oath under the Constitution on its revival. It had been won over by extension in the retirement age of judges under the LFO. All measures taken by the military regime in three years of its existence had also been protected.
They said the National Assembly speaker’s ruling in favour of the LFO carried no legal weight unless the order was presented in parliament as a constitution amendment bill. As for lawyers’ appearance before the ‘retired’ superior court judges, they said they were bound by the Bar Councils and Legal Practitioners Act, under which they were bound to pursue the briefs accepted by them. Action had been taken against the Punjab Bar Council vice-chairman for changing his pro-government stance.
They urged the prime minister and the federal interior minister to resign over the killing of innocent citizens in Quetta. They alleged that the incident occurred because a big chunk of the police force was detailed for the prime minister’s security.
