FAISALABAD: Lawyers continued rowdyism in parts of Punjab on the second day running on Thursday to press the authorities for the acceptance of their demand for high court benches.

A day after violent protest in Faisalabad, a group of lawyers beat litigants and a policeman, closed the revenue offices on the district courts premises and locked the main gates of the sessions courts. They also threw traffic out of gear and roughed up the litigants and a policeman in civvies.

Eyewitnesses said employees of the district courts canteen used a ladder to come out of courts through the roof.

The protesters also locked the offices of the revenue officials after scaring them away.

On Wednesday, a group of lawyers forcibly entered the office of the deputy commissioner and pushed and shoved him when he was chairing a meeting.

Case under ATA against 20 lawyers in Sargodha

A lawyer severely criticised the media for airing the footage in which lawyers had been shown misbehaving with DC Saifullah Dogar. He said the news channels had shown the lawyers in a bad light.

Later, DBA Secretary Sohail Zafar tried to make amends by announcing that the media had been performing its duty efficiently and promoting the stance of the lawyers.

The lawyers convened a meeting for Friday (today) at the Bar committee room to decide the future course of action.

SARGODHA: Members of the District Bar Association stormed the court of an additional district and sessions judge in Sargodha and hurled threats at the staff.

They announced strike till the establishment of the high court bench.

The lawyers set up a camp right in front of the sessions court entrance. As the word got round that Additional District and Sessions Judge Attiqur Rehman had claimed that he would hear a case as scheduled and dispose it of if the lawyer did not turn up, a group of lawyers led by DBA president Ansar Abbas Baloch stormed the courtroom, ransacked furniture and broke the windowpanes.

Police registered a case against 20 lawyers including the DBA president and Secretary Saadullah Warraich under the Anti-Terrorism Act. They said police teams conducted raids at the residences of lawyers who went into hiding.

The DBA president said no lawyer would go into hiding and all of them would be present in the protest camp. He told a press conference that the present government had forced lawyers to adopt aggression.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018