|
|
|
| December 17, 2005 | Saturday | Ziqa’ad 14, 1426 |
Tension mounts in district courts
JHANG, Dec 16: Tension gripped the district courts as lawyers boycotted work for the second day on Friday in protest against the demolition of chambers of some of their colleagues by the district administration. On Thursday, some 400 lawyers, after an emergency meeting of the District Bar Association, took out a procession and marched towards the offices of Jhang DCO, raising slogans against him. When they reached the office, he was in a meeting with some heads of district government departments. The agitating lawyers, who were demanding registration of cases and arrest of the officials responsible for the demolition of the chambers, became violent and started pelting stones at the committee room where the meeting was in progress, smashing a couple of windowpanes. Later, they dispersed peacefully at the request of some of the senior bar members.
Meanwhile, the DBA gave a strike call till Saturday. There will be a meeting at 11am on Saturday to decide the future course of action.
The trouble began when the chambers of Mohammad Khan Jatiana, Nawab Ali Khan and Farooq Husain Khan were demolished by the revenue staff in violation of, according to a bar source, a very clear assurance given to them by the DO (revenue) that they would not be demolished till a final settlement between the Bar and the district administration.
DBA president Salim Raza Bukhari and Punjab Bar Council former member Khalid Perviaz told Dawn that DCO Arif Khan and some senior revenue department officials had been planning for long to attack on the lawyers, as they had been extremely critical of the rampant corruption in the revenue department, particularly targeting the DCO.
They said the action was an act of revenge by the DCO and his corrupt team. They also mentioned some lawyers had last year filed petitions with the NAB against some of the revenue officials.
They vowed to continue strike till the culprits were brought to the book and the DCO and other officials were transferred.
In the meantime, the DCO office on Friday issued a press release stating that the lawyers’ chambers, which were actually housed in sheds and not rooms, where demolished, after serving notice on their owners, as they were illegally erected on state land.
According to the press release, the participants in the procession resorted to unprovoked violence, caused damage to the government property and raised abusive slogans against public servants.
|
|
|
|
