March, 29 2005	Tuesday	18 Safar 1426

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RAWALPINDI, March 28: The lawyers’ community here on Monday called off their strike after senior judges of the Lahore High Court assured them that their demands would be accepted. In this regard, a meeting attended by the representatives of both the High Court Bar Association and the District Bar Association at katchery was informed that the District and Sessions Judge Rawalpindi, Chaudhry Assad Raza, had been sent on leave.

Some senior judges of the high court said the decision to transfer the sessions judge from Rawalpindi had been finalized. They said the lawyers’ problems would be solved. The lawyers’ representatives said those cases which had been dismissed due to the strike by their community members would be restored and pursued. Later, some members of the DBA held a meeting with the high court judges. Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam of the LHC described the decision of the lawyers to end the strike as a success for both the bar and bench.

He said all the problems of the lawyers’ community would be solved through talks. About the lawyers’ demolished chambers in Gujar Khan, he said they would be reconstructed soon. New judges will be sent to Gujar Khan in place of those who have been transferred, he added.

All the cases registered against the lawyers would be withdrawn, he added. Similarly, all cases which were dismissed for want of pursuance would be restored. He said the decision to transfer the sessions judge would soon be implemented.

The over two-week-long strike and boycott of courts by the lawyers over demolition of their community members’ chambers at Gujar Khan had brought the courts’ working to a standstill. Hundreds of cases were delayed due to the bar-bench row.

OUR GUJAR KHAN CORRESPONDENT ADDS: The Gujar Khan Bar Association announced to call off its strike after report that their demands had been accepted.

President of the bar association Naseem Dar told Dawn that their major demand relating to the transfer of the district and sessions judge was accepted while two additional district and sessions judges - Sardar Babar and Chaudhry Tariq - and two civil judges of Gujar Khan had already been transferred.

He said the government would also provide suitable site for annexing the lawyers’ chambers in the vicinity of the civil courts on a temporary basis till the construction of the judicial complex outside the urban limits of the city.