LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has announced that it will take to the streets if military courts are established again in the country.

“Lawyers will strongly oppose any unconstitutional move to reestablish the military courts and hold countrywide protests,” sitting and former representatives of the bar told a press conference here on Tuesday.

LHCBA President Rana Zia Abdul Rehman said the lawyers had opposed the establishment of the military courts when the parliament introduced an amendment to the Constitution in 2015. He said the political parties in the parliament had violated their oaths by endorsing the establishment of the military courts so did the Supreme Court judges by dismissing petitions of the bar associations against such courts.

LHCBA former president Ahmad Awais said establishing military courts could never be a solution to the terrorism.

Stressing the need for a strong intelligence network of the law-enforcement agencies to counter terrorism, he said weak intelligence network was the main reason for the terrorists’ activities. He said the legal fraternity would not accept any excuse for defacing the Constitution by establishing the military courts.

Pakistan Bar Council member Hamid Khan, former secretary of SCBA Raja Zulqarnain, former president LHCBA Shafqat Mahmood Chohan and sitting secretary of LHCBA Anas Ghazi also spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2017