ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), a regulatory body of lawyers, said on Wednesday it was confident that Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s ‘Azadi March’ would not disrupt elections of the Supreme Court Bar Association slated for Oct 31.

Syed Amjad Shah, vice chairman of the PBC, called on Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad on Wednesday in an attempt to allay fears troubling the lawyers that the elections would not go ahead because of the opposition’s protest.

A total of 3,100 members across the country will determine who forms the next 22-member cabinet of the Supreme Court Bar Association for 2019-20.

After the meeting, Syed Amjad Shah explained in a statement that he had requested Maulana Fazlur Rehman to postpone his march to Islamabad for a day so that the elections could be held smoothly.

He was accompanied by Chaudhry Khanzada, who heads the Islamabad Bar Association, and Kamran Murtaza, a former JUI-F member, to the meeting.

Speaking to Dawn, Syed Amjad Shah said the Maulana “assured us that the JUI-F secretariat will pass on a set of instructions to its workers and supporters” that they should not try to stop lawyers from casting their votes.

The workers will be told not to create any impediment in the way of lawyers trying to reach the Supreme Court building.

The bar leaders decided to meet Maualana Fazl in the wake of their experience last year when the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) blocked the Faizabad junction by staging a sit-in on Oct 31 soon after the Supreme Court’s announcement about the immediate release of Aasia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court in 2014 on charges of blasphemy.

“We faced a lot of problems since a number of lawyers, especially those from Rawalpindi, were unable to cast their votes due to the blockade,” recalled outgoing SCBA president Amanullah Kanrani.

“But this year we have taken a precaution by requesting returning officer Chaudhry Afrasiab, who will sit in the Supreme Court building, to immediately shift the polling station to the Islamabad High Court in order to ensure that voting remains uninterrupted,” Mr Kanrani said.

Syed Amjad Shah said: “Maulana Rehman has assured PBC leaders that the Azadi March will reach Islamabad on the evening of Oct 31 so that the lawyers fraternity is able to vote peacefully.

“We have also decided to meet officials of the Islamabad Capital Administration (ICT) to convey our apprehensions and get assurances from them as well.”

Azam Nazeer Tarar, a PBC member, recalled that the SCBA was able to hold its elections without interruption in 2014 during the PTI’s 126-day sit-in.

The SCBA filed an application with the Supreme Court on Tuesday to put back to the first week of next month the Oct 28 hearing of petitions challenging the reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa as it feared that lawyers won’t be able to reach Islamabad from other cities in view of road closures prompted by ‘Azadi March’.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2019