FAISALABAD: A case has been registered against more than three dozen lawyers on the charge of thrashing seven Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials and holding them hostage at gunpoint outside the court premises.

Submitting an application to the police, Ameer Aslam, a sub-inspector of the FIA cyber crime cell, said he along with his six other colleagues visited the court of senior civil judge on Thursday in connection with the physical remand of two suspects.

He said one of the suspects, a lawyer, Ghulam Dastagir, along with Malik Babar, Rana Zain, Sajid Shah and Khwaja Asad and 35 unidentified lawyers also reached there and threatened him and other officials with dire consequences for registering a case against the suspect.

He said when he insisted on performing his duty, the lawyers dragged the FIA officials out of the court where they started torturing them.

The suspects also snatched an official gun from an FIA Inspector, Rizwan Mehdi, along with cash and case documents from other employees.

The lawyers, he said, had also held them hostage at gunpoint for an hour after which police rescued them.

The Civil Lines police registered a case under sections 148, 149, 186, 224, 225, 383 and 506-B of the Pakistan Penal Code against the attackers with no arrest so far.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2021