November 22, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 11, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Nov 21: A civil judge here on Wednesday granted bail to two lawyers who were arrested in connection with an attack on the court of district and sessions judge some three years ago.

Special Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Iqbal granted bail to Chaudhry Toufiq Asif, a senior advocate, and Rawalpindi’s District Bar Association (DBA) joint secretary Shahbaz Rajpoot against surety bonds of Rs50,000 each.

Both lawyers were arrested last Saturday when they left the courts after taking part in an anti-emergency protest.

On Tuesday they were produce in the court by the police to obtain their physical remand for theft after preparation made for causing death, injury or restrain and rioting armed with deadly weapons.

The FIR was registered on March 16, 2005, when some lawyers protested outside the court of the then District and Sessions Judge Asad Raza who had taken some measures that annoyed the bar association. The lawyer turned violent and raised anti-judge slogans.

Some 26 lawyers were nominated in the FIR. Interestingly, one of the nominated lawyers, Niaz Ahmed Rathore, is now a state counsel in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, protesting lawyers here on Wednesday claimed that Mr Rathore was serving as deputy attorney general in the SC on government pay roll. They demanded his arrest because the police had unsealed the FIR after more than two years.

They termed the opening of the case at this time as an effort to thwart the ongoing protests of Rawalpindi lawyers against the unconstitutional steps of the Musharraf regime. The lawyers serving for the government are being spared, they alleged.