OKARA: Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) President Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali has urged lawyers to discourage and avoid the culture of strikes as court proceeding suffered and verdicts delayed.

He was addressing lawyers of the district bar association (DBA) late on Tuesday at the oath-taking ceremony of the association’s office-bearers.

Earlier, District and Sessions Judge (D&SJ) Baidar Bakht administered oath to the office-bearers, including President Syed Zahid Bokhari and General Secretary Rai Iqrar Hussain Kharal.

Deputy Commissioner Saima Ahad, all additional sessions and civil judges, officer-bearers of all the bars of Sahiwal division and Assistant Commissioner Maham Asif Malik were also present on the occasion.

STRIKE: The DBA continued its strike for the fourth consecutive day against police’s registration of a case and unlawful raids at the houses of lawyers.

On March 25, lawyers, including Abdul Rehman Dogar, Rana Azeem, Malik Nauman and Rai Zulfiqar Mumdara, had allegedly roughed up Assistant Sub-Inspector Aslam Javaid outside the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Safdar and a case was registered against them at Saddar police station.

The protest continues despite the LHCBA president asking lawyers on Tuesday night to do away with the strike culture.

ROBBERY: Four robbers shot injured two owners of a sweets shop here.

On Wednesday afternoon, four armed men entered the Ghazi Traders shop on Faisalabad Road and held owners Ghulam Fareed and Tanveer – who are brothers -- of Basti Rehmatpur at gunpoint. They tried to snatch cash from them, but the owners offered resistance. The suspects opened fire that injured Fareed and Tanveer.

People gathered outside the shop and nabbed two of the suspects, while their remaining accomplices managed to escape. A heavy contingent of police arrived at the site.

Fareed and Tanveer were rushed to the DHQ hospital from where they were referred to Lahore in serious condition.

Locals beat up the suspects and handed them over to police. Later, the locals blocked the road in protest against the incident, which was going on until the filing of this report.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017