LAHORE, June 22: The Punjab Bar Council has issued a notice for the cancellation of licence to National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Husain for working against the interests of lawyers and forwarding a mala fide reference against Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan, imposing a ban on his entry in all tehsil, district and Lahore High Court bars.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the council held here on Friday with vice-chairman Tariq Javed Warraich in the chair. The members supported Imran Khan’s struggle and criticised the NA speaker for forwarding a reference against him at the behest of Gen Pervez Musharraf and the MQM.

The council also condemned alleged victimisation of the lawyers of Sahiwal by the Lahore High Court chief justice and demanded that cases should be transferred back to courts in Sahiwal district.

They also condemned conferring of knighthood on Salman Rushdie and decided that lawyers throughout the province would express resentment against it on Saturday (today) by wearing black armbands.

The council also decided to include Amer Jalil Siddiqi, Iqbal Ahmad Khan Whengal and Zafar Mahmood Mughal on the committee for preparation of reference against the Lahore High Court chief justice. The council was informed that hundreds of lawyers from the province had contacted it for providing information for the proposed reference.—Reporter