SARGODHA/FAISALABAD: Lawyers in Sargodha and Faisalabad called off their 72-day long strike on Tuesday and unlocked district courts.

Lawyers at divisional headquarters of Sargodha, Faisalabad and Gujranwala had been on strike for the establishment of divisional benches of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to facilitate litigants.

They adopted violent measures such as lock down of district and sessions courts, revenue offices and land registration offices. Newly-elected Sargodha District Bar Association (DBA) President Wasif Bhatti and Secretary Asim Iqbal Malik met Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat and the LHC chief justice and apprised them of the problems faced by lawyers and litigants. They said they were convinced by the assurance of the law minister and the chief justice that measures would be taken to address the issue. They have called a meeting of the divisional coordination committee on Jan 24 to discuss the strategy.

During the 72-long strike neither the government nor the higher judiciary took notice of the situation. Senior lawyers say the extreme measure of locking down courts damaged their cause while young lawyers say body’s decision to step back will damage their cause.

An insider said the Jan 24 general house meeting will exert pressure on the elected body to allow the courts to work for at least three days as lawyers at other places are still on strike. The divisional coordination committee chairman said they would not compromise on their demand.

In Faisalabad, the general house meeting of the DBA, chaired by newly-elected President Naveed Mukhtar. decided to call off the strike. The strike crippled courts proceedings and revenue affairs and lawyers set up a protest camp on District

Courts Road, took out various processions and also forcibly locked district, drug and banking courts. Lawyers also thrashed litigants who tried to enter the district courts or cross barriers erected by them to stop the traffic on the road in front of the district courts.

A group of lawyers also roughed up Deputy Commissioner Saifullah and ransacked his office. No action was taken against them. They also announced a protest rally on The Mall in Lahore, however, they withdrew the call.

In the second week of December last, differences surfaced between then president Malik Amjad Hussain and then secretary Rahail Zafar over the strike matter.

The president group wanted to call off the strike and also tried to unlock the district courts gate, saying that it had been decided in a meeting in Lahore that a registry branch of the LHC would be set up at divisional headquarters. However, the secretary group said their movement was for establishment of the bench, and not the registry counter.

A couple of days ago, the bar president with other bar members had a meeting with the parliamentarians and briefed them about the importance of the LHC bench in Faisalabad. Also, a group of lawyers met Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Mr Mukthar told reporters said that lawyers had called off their strike following assurance from the people at the helm of affairs. He said the strike had been called off temporarily and would be resumed with more power if their demand owas not fulfilled. He said lawyers would observe a strike on every Saturday for the bench.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2019