April 12, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1429

MIANWALI, April 11: The City police have registered a case against 21 people who allegedly set on fire 14 lawyers’ chambers and the bar room and ransacked the bar library.

The incident took place on Tuesday night after a mob manhandled former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi in Lahore.

In the first information report lodged with the City police, District Bar Association President Sultan Sikandar Khan has alleged that some people belonging to Niazi’s tribe and his political followers set on fire lawyers’ chambers and the bar room and ransacked the bar library in reaction to the Lahore incident. They also threatened the lawyers with consequences.

Khan said the attack caused lawyers a loss of more than two million rupees. He said the attackers had destroyed the bar furniture, television set, computers, printers, photocopy machine, books and valuable record.

He said on Wednesday morning 13 lawyers filed applications for registration of cases against 21 nominated persons and 30 unidentified people, but the police delayed the registration of cases for unknown reasons.

Later, the police registered a case against accused Afzal Khan, Muhammad Akram Khan, Muhammad Tariq Khan, Abdul Rehman Khan, Qayyum Khan, Azizullah Khan, Amir Khan, Saifullah Khan, Muhammad Ayaz Khan, Tariq Khan, Bahadur Khan, Hasan Khan, Shah Wali Khan, Afzal Khan, Aslam Khan, Najeebullah Khan, Faiz Shah, Asif Khan, Humayun Khan, Habibullah Khan and Muhammad Aslam Khan after omitting some sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act. However, none of the accused had been arrested till 11pm on Friday.

Separately, lawyers continued their complete boycott of the courts. They said the boycott would continue till the arrest of all those who set on fire chambers and the bar room and ransacked the bar library.

Talking to Dawn, Bar President Sultan Khan condemned Dr Niazi’s manhandling and said the incident seemed to be engineered by some people who wanted to sabotage the lawyers’ movement.