LAHORE: Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem on Monday said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) considered the legal fraternity a great asset of the country and had been accommodating it like never before.

Speaking at a gathering of lawyers at Lahore Bar Association (LBA), the minister, who belonged to Sindh, said the people of Lahore and lawyers as well were unmatched.

Mr Naseem said he was fully conversant with all demands of the lawyers, including completion of housing society in Islamabad and a health facility. He announced to upgrade library of the bar.

“Library of Asia’s largest bar is supposed to be a splendid one,” he added.

Lauding the struggle of the legal fraternity, the law minister asked media to avoid negative terminologies while reporting incidents of misconduct committed by few black sheep.

He also advised lawyers to not involve in activities bringing bad name to the profession.

Mr Farogh, who is a practising lawyer, said for him the bar associations were significant than the parliament. He said the bar and bench were two wheels of same chariot.

He avoided media queries about “Azadi March” announced by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. However, he said to provide security to the participants in the march was the domain of the interior ministry.

To another query on appointment of regular judge in court hearing drug case against PML-N lawmaker Rana Sanaullah Khan, the law minister said he just wanted to talk about issues relating to the lawyers.

LUNCH: A group of lawyers from Lahore arranged a reception for Syed Kalbe Hassan, candidate for president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Former caretaker provincial finance minister Zia Haider Rizvi hosted the reception followed by a lunch.

Former presidents of SCBA Syed Ali Zafar and Pir Kaleem Khurshid, Imtiaz Siddique and other leaders of Independent Group (famously known as Asma Jahangir group) attended the event.

Mr Hassan belonged to Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2019