LAHORE, Aug 6: The Lahore High Court Bar Association on Wednesday gave three days to the provincial government for arresting the Gujranwala DIG and the Sialkot SSP and trying them on charges of mishandling the hostage crisis in the Sialkot jail and causing the death of four judges.

LHCBA president Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari and other office-bearers announced at a press conference that the bar was concerned at the delay in arrest of two police officials and would not let the issue be placed on the back-burner.

“We give an ultimatum to the provincial government to arrest the two officials within three days and get the investigation completed within two weeks. We further request the chief justice of the LHC to constitute a larger bench for trial of the officials.”

The LHCBA warned that in case no action was taken by the deadline, it would launch a full-fledged protest campaign, in the first phase of which a four-day protest camp would be set up at the LHC and legal heirs of the deceased judges invited to it.

In case of status quo, the LHCBA would set up another four-day protest camp in front of the Punjab Assembly building and as a last resort give a call for the establishment of protest camps in every district court of the province.

The office-bearers alleged that the DIG and the SSP were not being arrested by the government as they were likely to shift the responsibility for police operation on the provincial chief minister or the chief secretary in their statements before the investigation officer.

“We want to make it clear that the LHCBA would not allow anyone to let the culprits off the hook. It was foolish of the government to think that this issue would die out with the passage of time.”

The LHCBA officer-bearers feared that if the judiciary did not restore public confidence in the working of courts, incidents like the one in the Sialkot jail would keep on happening. They stressed that both the bar and the bench should work together to redress grievances of the public.