PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has questioned the transparency and fairness of the general elections and has asked the government to conduct a detailed inquiry in this regard.

The demand was made at a general body meeting of the council chaired by its vice-chairman Fida Mohammad Khan on Tuesday. The meeting declared that the Election Commission of Pakistan had failed to conduct free, fair and impartial polls, therefore, the bar council rejected these elections.

The meeting passed a resolution, demanding that the government take notice of the issue and order an impartial inquiry into the matter.

The meeting also discussed the issue of the reference against Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court before the Supreme Judicial Council and demanded an open court inquiry in the matter in which members of Pakistan Bar Council, provincial bar councils, media and civil society should also be involved.

It was demanded that it was in the interest of justice that Justice Siddiqui should be given full opportunity to defend himself.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2018