GUJRAT, June 12: The district police, with the help of some lawyers, have started gathering information about those practising lawyers who are allegedly in possession of fake degrees, it is learnt.

The Civil Lines police had registered the first case of the 'campaign against lawyers' on Thursday against Gujrat Bar secretary-general Raja Rashid Jaral on the complaint of Advocate Shafqat Ullah Butt.

Mr Butt had claimed that Raja Rashid had obtained his license from the Punjab Bar Council by presenting a fake LLB result card.

It may be recalled that the Gujrat Saddar police had registered a case under Anti-Terrorism Act against Raja Rashid and others for taking out a caravan to receive exiled leader Mian Shahbaz Sharif on May 11. He was arrested but granted bail by a Gujranwala anti-terrorism court. He is also the Nazim of a union council of Jalalpur Jattan and belongs to the PPP. He was elected secretary-general in 2003 by defeating a PML-Q nominee.

Sources in the police department told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that the police had decided to retaliate as lawyers had been demanding sacking of DPO Raja Munawar Husain.

They claimed that police had asked some PML-Q lawyers to gather information about the lawyers who were in possession of fake BA or LLB degrees. They have assured the police of their cooperation, they added.

Raja Rashid was not available for his comments.

Meanwhile, lawyers, politicians and people from other walks of life have demanded the authorities concerned to come forward immediately and settle the issue.

It may be remembered that the District Bar Association had been observing strike against DPO Raja Munawar for the last some months. The Bar president and secretary-general are actively participating in the strike. The Bar had adopted a resolution last year against the DPO for misbehaviour with senior lawyer Gulraiz Warriach. Since then, they had been demanding his suspension or transfer. On the call given by the DBA, lawyers of the division had observed a complete strike followed by a province-wide strike. The Gujrat lawyers have been observing a strike for the last one month and vowed to continue it till the acceptance of their demand. They had also met Lahore High Court Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmad the other day. On their request, the Punjab Bar Council had recently announced that they would take out a protest rally from the Lahore High Court to the Governor's House on June 16 to express solidarity with their colleagues of Gujrat. The Gujrat lawyers had turned down all requests by politicians to settle the dispute through negotiations and vowed to remain on strike till the acceptance of their demand. District Nazim Chaudhry Shafaat Husain along with some politicians had started a campaign on Thursday to settle the issue and met almost every lawyer in his chamber but he failed to get their support.