April 01, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1428

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PESHAWAR, March 31: Abdul Lateef Afridi of the Awami National Party was elected president of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association by defeating Abdul Sattar Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-N on Saturday.

A one-to-one contest took place on five key seats between lawyers of the Malgaray Wakeelan, affiliated with the Awami National Party, and an alliance of lawyers’ groups affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal.

Mr Afridi, a former MNA and provincial president of the Malgaray Wakeelan, received 502 votes against 379 votes of Abdul Sattar, provincial president of the lawyers’ wing of the PML-N.

Ishtiaq Ibraheem of the Malgaray Wakeelan was elected secretary-general. He received 529 votes against Mohammad Khursheed Khan’s 327 votes.

Mian Abdul Fayyaz, a candidate of the tripartite alliance, got 483 votes and was elected vice-president. His rival Naveed Akhter received 376 votes.

Barrister Waqar Ali Khan of the Malgaray Wakeelan was elected joint secretary. He got 452 votes against 408 votes of Shahid Qayyum.

Sher Bahadur was elected treasurer by getting 428 votes and his rival candidate Arshid Ali received 382 votes.

Jalaluddin Khan Wadpaga was elected unopposed the library secretary. Five executive council members were also elected unopposed. They are Nasruminallah and Fazli Akbar from Peshawar, Zeb Alam Khan from Mardan, Mujahid Farooq from Malakand and Khurshid Ahmad from Kohat.

Speaking after the announcement of the results, Mr Afridi said: “The lawyers’ movement launched for the independence of judiciary and for restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry will continue and lawyers are united for the cause.”

He said he and his cabinet would make efforts for resolving problems faced by junior lawyers, especially while starting practice in courts.

The election commission for the polls comprised Khwaja Mohammad Khan Gara, commissioner, and Syed Sardar Hussain, Khizar Hayat and Bilal Durrani, members.