ISLAMABAD: The newly-elected office-bearers of the District Bar Association Islamabad (DBAI) on Tuesday announced their decision to end the month-long strike of lawyers and also imposed a ban on construction of unauthorised chambers.

The lawyers went on strike on Dec 21 demanding rotation of lower judiciary judges. In the meantime, some lawyers started construction of illegal chambers in front of courtrooms which were demolished by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

In retaliation, the lawyers detained 20 judges in courtrooms and also announced a strike till the acceptance of their demand for rotation of the judges.

The DBAI has now stopped construction of unauthorised chambers and directed the lawyers not to sell or purchase chambers without prior approval of the office -bearers.

The newly-elected secretary of the DBAI issued a notification on Tuesday calling off the strike. The association, however, said the lawyers would not backtrack from their demand regarding rotation of judges and would observe strike on every Tuesday and Friday.

The lawyers have been demanding posting/transfer of judges from Islamabad to other provincial judicial services and vice versa.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar during a visit to the Islamabad High Court Bar Association in February last year had accepted the demand and assured the lawyers of rotation of judges after completing the formalities.

However, a committee headed by Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan proposed that the judges of Islamabad’s lower courts may be posted to various ministries/divisions of the federal government within the federal capital.

But the lawyers rejected the proposal and insisted on the interprovincial posting of judges as was assured to them by the CJP.

About a month ago, all 60 judges of the lower judiciary stopped working after the Special Branch issued a security threat due to the haphazardly and illegally constructed chambers not only in front of the courtrooms but also in corridors, hospitality centre, litigants’ shed and emergency exit of the district courts premises.

Sources in the lower judiciary told Dawn that despite partially ending the strike, the judges would not resume their work and continue sitting in their respective chambers.

The sources said unless the illegally-constructed chambers were demolished, the judges would not end their unannounced strike due to security threats.

In March 2014, an additional district and sessions judge and over a dozen lawyers and litigants were killed in a terrorist attack in the district court premises.

The issue of Islamabad’s judiciary started since the establishment of the capital as the planners ignored courts in the layout plan of the city.

The 1960 master plan of Islamabad did not allocate a space for the lower courts. As a result, they have been operating under makeshift arrangements.

In 2005, the government planned to shift the lower courts to a newly-constructed district courts complex but the devastating earthquake in October that year forced the government to defer the shifting.

In 2007, the then president Pervez Musharraf established the Islamabad High Court (IHC). In the absence of a proper building for it, the IHC was allowed to use the district courts complex.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2019