LAHORE, Oct 17: The Lahore High Court Bar Association has strongly reacted to the dispute between a major-general and the Ghalib Market police, saying that the incident shows that rulers have no respect for the rule of law.

The police were doing their duty by stopping a private car with tinted glass, and punishment for lawful action could only be deplored, LHCBA president Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, vice-president MM Alam Chaudhry and secretary Muzamil Akhtar Shabir said at a news conference here on Friday.

Demanding that the case against the constable on duty be withdrawn and the SP, SHO and SPO reinstated, the Bar members said no one was above the law. The army officer’s family should be made to stand trial instead of being allowed to inflict punishment on honest police officials.

Meanwhile, the People’s Lawyers Forum has condemned the incident which, its office-bearers said in a press statement here on Friday, spoke volumes for the low priority accorded to the rule of law by the ruling junta.

The press statement was issued by PLF president Malik Ghulam Rasul, former presidents Mian Mohammad Jahangir and Nasim Kashmiri and members of the Punjab Bar Council, Shahid Mahmood Bhatti, Mirza Hanif Beg, Mohammad Masood Chishti and Aatir Mahmood, who said that tinted glasses in vehicles were prohibited under the law.