MUZAFFARGARH: Lawyers attacked tehsil municipal administration (TMA) workers and clerks in front of the office of the district coordination officer (DCO) when they were protesting against the lawyers and in support of an additional district collector on Monday.

The police were called by DCO Shaukat Ali to control the situation.

Dozens of TMA workers and All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) members were protesting against the lawyers in support of ADC Mian Abdul Qadir Shah. When the lawyers, who had also boycotted the courts in protest against the ADC, came to know about the protest against them, they rushed to the DCO office and attacked the protest participants. They also chanted slogans against the DCO and ADC.

On Saturday, a lawyer Kareem Lashari advocate had appeared in the office of the ADC and asked him to favour his client in a case but he refused. At this, they exchanged harsh words against each other and the lawyer accused the ADC of threatening him with a pistol. He had called more lawyers and 200 of them had gathered in the ADC office. They locked the ADC in the office for hours.

On Monday, APCA members and TMA workers gathered to show support to the ADC by holding a protest against the lawyers.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2016