KARACHI: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) senior vice president Salahuddin Gandapur and former president Yaseen Azad have extended their support for a countrywide strike call for June 14 to protest the filing of [references][1] against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court and Justice Karim Khan Agha of the Sindh High Court.

Speaking at a press conference at the SCBA bar room in Supreme Court’s Karachi registry on Tuesday, they said the strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) could not be taken back until the references were withdrawn. They said the legal fraternity reacted because of the rulers’ “targeted decisions” as the reference against Justice Isa was filed with mala fide intentions.

The lawyers were of the view that dozens of references against judges of the higher and superior judiciary had been pending before the Supreme Judicial Council for a long time, but they were yet to be taken up for hearing. They maintained that Justice Isa had been targeted due to his inquiry report on the Quetta blast case, adding that some quarters were also unhappy over his verdict in the Faizabad sit-in case.

They said the legal fraternity would put up resistance against the references.

Referring to a group of lawyers opposing the June 14 strike, they said those lawyers were supporters of the federal law minister and they had been provoked to form a so-called action committee. Any move to block the strike would be strongly resisted, they warned.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2019