ISLAMABAD: With a potential candidate for the top slot declared disqualified on ‘technicalities’, the District Bar Association Islamabad (DBAI) is holding its election on Saturday (today).

Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Javed Akbar Shah resigned to protest the disqualification of the presidential candidate, Saeed Khursheed Ahmed.The election committee disqualified Mr Ahmed on Jan 7. He filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) where he was advised to raise the matter with the Islamabad Bar Council (IBC).

On Jan 10, the IBC heard the matter and announced its verdict on Friday upholding Mr Ahmed’s disqualification.

Islamabad Bar Council upholds disqualification of presidential aspirant Saeed Khursheed Ahmed by election body

With the disqualification of Mr Ahmed, the election seems to be one-sided as Chaudhry Khanzada, the contender against him, is likely to be elected without facing any tough contest.

Though there is another candidate, Hassan Ilyas Kaifi, who joined the legal fraternity after his retirement from Pakistan Navy, according to advocate Chaudhry Khalid Hussain, a senior lawyer and legal analyst, Mr Kaifi is not a substitute for Mr Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed was a civil judge but resigned from the post during the movement for restoration of superior court judges in 2007. He was enrolled in the Islamabad bar as a lawyer in 2008. He rejoined the judicial service in 2009 for a brief period but resumed the legal practice soon afterward.

The election committee disqualified Mr Ahmed for not having been on the voter list from 2008 to 2016. He became a voter in 2017. The reason for his non-inclusion in the voter list was that he was not paying the annual fee of the bar association, sources in the election committee told Dawn.

IHCBA President Javed Akbar Shah is a staunch supporter of Mr Ahmed and tried his level best to bring him back to the race. However, upon his failure, he tendered resignation in protest.

In a message sent to his colleagues and others, Mr Shah said he had decided to resign from the post of IHCBA president in protest against “dishonest, unethical, illegal, mala fide, humiliating and insulting behaviour” of the chairman of the executive committee of the PBC and all the three members of the executive committee of the Islamabad Bar Council towards Mr Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed in a social media post told his fellow lawyers: “I am highly obliged for your support in the IBA election.” He urged them to vote for the secretary and vice president of his group.

Rotation of judges

The federal government has sought proposals from the DBAI regarding rotation of judges working in the lower judiciary of the federal capital.

The lawyers have been demanding posting of sessions judges from Islamabad to provincial judicial services.

The DBAI is observing a boycott of the sessions courts since Dec 21, 2018, to protest the proposal of a committee headed by Attorney General for Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan that instead of transferring the judges to other provinces they may be posted to federal ministries and divisions against the ex-cadre posts.

The lawyers have been asked to attend a meeting in the Ministry of Law and Justice next week and submit their proposals.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2019