RAWALPINDI: Mama Qadeer Baloch, who is leading the long march for the missing Baloch persons, was not welcomed at the district bar in the garrison city on Friday.

The lawyers, who have always claimed to support campaigns to raise voice against forced disappearances in Balochistan, were divided on allowing the 60-year-old campaigner to address the bar members.

Interestingly, Mama Qadeer was invited by a group of lawyers led by retired Colonel Inamur Rahim to visit the district bar. However, on his arrival at the district bar association along with another rights activist Amna Masood Janjua, the office-bearers of the association stopped them from delivering speeches and asked them to leave.

Upon this, Mama Qadeer and Amna Janjua chanted slogans in favour of the Baloch missing persons and against intelligence agencies and left the spot.

However, a number of lawyers believed that the military had pressured the lawyers not to allow the Baloch activist to speak at the district bar. “The intelligence agencies did not want people raise voice on the issue and the long march has annoyed them. So they created the fuss in district bar today,” said Mr Rahim.

He said over 100 lawyers had met the participants of the long march and requested them to visit the district bar room.

But some lawyers belonging to the PML-Q refused to allow the participants to speak on the occasion, he added. He said such an incident should not have happened in the bar room.

Raja Mudassar Advocate said the new office-bearers belonged to the PML-Q, which always supported dictators and opposed the independence of the judiciary. He also said intelligence agencies had created division among the lawyers over the long march.

“We always supported the issue of the missing persons and will continue our support to them in future as well,” he said.

He said the lawyers of Rawalpindi would meet Mama Qadeer and the relatives of the missing persons to express their solidarity with them in Islamabad on Saturday.

On the other hand, District Bar Association president Raja Nasir said the association was not against the issue of the missing persons or the long march but against the way some lawyers had invited the Baloch activist without informing the association.

“The forum can be used through a proper channel and we as elected representatives of the lawyers will not allow everyone to come and deliver speeches on their own.” He said if the participants of the long march wanted to address the lawyers they should have requested the president of the association and other office-bearers in advance.

He said the district bar was always against picking of people by intelligence agencies and supported the basic cause of the long march. He said the bar association would take action against those lawyers who created the fuss after inviting the participants to the bar room.