LAHORE, Aug 1: The Lahore High Court Bar Association on Monday condemned raids on seminaries saying that the government operation was a blatant violation of fundamental rights. In a unanimously adopted resolution, moved by advocate Ghulam Sarwar Nihang, the LHCBA said the raid on a women’s religious institution in Islamabad was, in particular, a matter of grave concern.

The LHCBA general meeting, chaired by president Fakharun Nisa Khokhar, said the raids were being conducted at the behest of certain western powers and national sovereignty was being compromised The resolution said the blind following of the west’s commands was bound to undermine national dignity, besides having an adverse impact on religious institutions.

It said the education being imparted by the seminaries had a special appeal throughout the Muslim world. The government’s plan to expel foreign seminary students from the country would result in weakening of diplomatic support of the Islamic countries, it added.

Pakistan, India bars: The Bar Council of India has said the legal communities of Pakistan and India have come closer after the recently concluded visit of a 12-member delegation.

In a letter to Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari, his Indian counterpart Baldev Sigh Chauhan said the visit of Indian jurists last month had generated a great amount of interest in Indian lawyers who felt that it would go a long way in promoting peace and friendship between the people of the two countries.

Mr Chauhan said in his letter, made available to the press on Monday, Indian lawyers believed that the Indo-Pakistan friendship was vital for the peace and prosperity of the entire south Asian region where around one-fifth of the world population was living in abject poverty. “We have enough of conflict, it is time that peace is given a chance.”

Mr Chauhan thanked Mr Ansari for excellent arrangements and hospitality extended to Indian jurists during their 10-day visit to Pakistan.