KARACHI, June 28: In line with the decision of the Pakistan Bar Council, the legal fraternity in the Sindh High Court, the City Courts and Malir District Courts on Thursday observed a complete boycott of court proceedings. The courts wore a deserted look as under trial prisoners were also not shifted from the prisons.
Also, speakers at a KBA general body meeting announced that the chief justice would be visiting Karachi in the second week of August.
The shops of the stamp vendors also remained closed and though the judges remained present in their chambers, lawyers stayed away from court proceedings.
Govt’s rain response
Members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) held a general body meeting at the bar room which was addressed by Members of the Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Gandapur, Mustafa Lakhani, SHCBA Joint Secretary Ahmed Nafees Osmani and Nihal Hashmi.
The speakers criticised the government policies and said the state machinery had failed to come up to the people’s expectations, especially during the recent rain emergency. They said people were dying due to the lack of basic facilities but the rulers were least concerned about their official responsibilities.
They said the government was active only to oppose the lawyers’ movement for the independence of the judiciary and did nothing for the people’s welfare during the last seven years, saying that the movement would emerge successful and Gen Musharraf would have to step down.
It was alleged that the government repeatedly attempted to sabotage the movement by creating rifts in the lawyers’ ranks.
CJ’s Karachi visit
A general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) was held at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts.
Those who addressed the meeting included: Sindh Bar Council members Saathi M. Ishaque, Mohammad Ali Abbasi, KBA Vice President Qadir Khan, General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi, KBA Managing Committee member Abdul Hafeez Baloch, Islamic Lawyers’ Forum President Syed Abdul Waheed and others.
The speakers said Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry would visit Karachi in the second week of August as chief guest in the golden jubilee celebrations of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, adding that he would be accorded a warm welcome on his arrival.
‘Delaying tactics’
They condemned the government for what they said were delaying tactics concerning the release of annual grants for various lawyers’ bars and rejected the government offer to give annual grants under certain conditions. “Lawyers need no grant which can cause damage to the movement. The lawyers themselves will contribute to renovate the bar room and other offices,” pledged the speakers.
Lawyers’ stand ‘principled’
They said they would never bargain over their principled stand, saying that the judiciary also seemed to have learned a lesson from its past mistakes which, they said, strengthened the unconstitutional rule of military dictators and toppled democratically elected governments.
It was alleged that judges in the past never played their role for strengthening democratic institutions or working for the independence of the judiciary, but acted like the ‘B’ team of dictators.
May 12 violence
Condemning the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) they said innocent people were brutally murdered on May 12 but no FIR was registered against the actual terrorists while cases were registered against the workers of opposition parties who had raised a voice for the independence of the judiciary.
They said the people’s problems were on the increase yet the funds meant for the development of the city were being transferred to London into the account of MQM Chief Altaf Hussain, saying lawyers would hold the party accountable for usurping the people’s rights.
