LAHORE, April 17: Signs of frustration in lawyers became visible on Thursday, with very few of them boycotting court proceedings in line with the call of the Pakistan Bar Council.

The situation was revealed during a survey of the courtrooms at the Lahore High Court.

It was after the proclamation of emergency that the PBC had given a call for a complete boycott of the proceedings before the judges who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order. Soon it became evident to the PBC that it would be impossible for it to maintain the boycott, hence, it restricted the call to Thursdays when the lawyers take out rallies in protest against the removal of judges on Nov 3.

And now the lawyers are finding it hard to manage the boycott even on Thursdays. The new block of the Lahore High Court looked as busy as on any other day in the morning, with most lawyers pleading their cases before the judges.

The courtroom of Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhinder was found packed with lawyers and litigants. “Is he above law?” Justice Bhinder asks a lawyer about a Wapda official who avoided appearing before the court on two previous dates of hearing despite court orders.

A division bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Akram Qureshi and Justice Khalil Ahmad, was busy hearing a lawyer explaining the nature of injuries and the sort of weapons used in a murder. The courtroom of Justice Syed Asghar Haider was found deserted not because of the boycott, but for the simple reason that he had heard the cases listed before him.

“The appeal is accepted and the accused is acquitted,” Justice Hasnat Ahmad Khan and Justice M.A. Zafar told a lawyer visibly overjoyed at the verdict. Their courtroom, too, had lawyers waiting for their turn to plead their cases.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Anwar Kamal, along with other office-bearers, even tried to stop the lawyers from appearing before the PCO-dictated judges by assembling at the main passage to the courtrooms, but in vain.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Kamal said the lawyers had started appearing before the judges because they could feel that the deposed judges would be restored in accordance with the Murree Declaration.