PESHAWAR: With lawyers and civil servants refusing to budge, the controversy over the arrest of a senior legal practitioner for ‘stopping’ an additional assistant commissioner of Peshawar from performing his duty entered fifth day on Tuesday.

As decided by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC), the lawyers observed a strike across the province on Tuesday, while civil servants staged a token protest by wearing black armbands.

The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (Peshawar High Court Bar Association) and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) held a joint general body meeting, which decided with the approval of the KPBC to continue with the strike at the principal seat of the PHC and courts of in Nowshera, Charssada, Mardan, Swabi, Mohmand, Kohat, Hangu, Kurram and Khyber districts indefinitely.

Both sides stick to their guns over a dispute amid protests

The participants passed a resolution announcing that the strike at the high court’s principal seat would continue until the suspension and arrest of AAC Aftab Ahmad and policemen responsible for the torture and arrest of senior lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah.

The meeting also nominated PDBA’s President Ali Zaman as focal person for holding talks with the government over the issue. He was also empowered to include any other member of the association in the committee.

The meeting was addressed by Tariq Afridi of the Pakistan Bar Council and Syed Taimoor Shah of the KPBC, PHCB general secretary Farooq Afridi and vice-president Ayesha Malik, Yasir Khattak, Maulana Shamsul Haq, PDBA general secretary Akbar Yousaf Khalil and others.

Different organisations of civil servants have already announced that their token strike would include wearing of black armbands until June 9 and that if their demands were not met by then, they would announce the future course of action, which might include a complete lockdown of government offices across the province or en masse leave for an indefinite period.

The controversy had begun after the registration of an FIR and arrest of lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah, who was accused by the AAC of stopping him from performing his duty at a filling station on June 2.

In the FIR lodged with the police against lawyer Ghufranullah, the AAC insisted that he went to a filling station on the GT Road to look into the complaints about ‘hindrance to fuel supply to motorists’ and as he was busy with his official duty, Ghufranullah, who was also present there, began hurling threats at him and his police guards before attacking them and trying to snatch their weapons.

An FIR was also registered against AAC Aftab Ahmad and police constables Ilyas and Ahmad Shah on June 4 after a local court accepted a petition of the lawyer.

On June 5, the court issued an order to the local police to arrest the AAC and two police constables named in the FIR.

Meanwhile, the protesting civil servants also flayed lawyers for ‘attacking’ the office of Peshawar deputy commissioner on June 4 and hurling bricks at the main entrance and CCTV cameras.

An FIR was registered against several lawyers, including Ali Zaman, for attacking the premises.

Meanwhile, lawyers in Charssada, Haripur and Shangla also staged demonstrations after boycotting courts.

COMMENTS SOUGHT: A high court bench on Tuesday sought response of the provincial chief secretary and some other officials within a fortnight on three petitions challenging the strike and formation of associations by civil servants.

Justice Roohul Amin Khan Chamkani and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim also issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and provincial advocate general asking them to assist the court on the points raised by petitioners.

Two petitions were filed by the PHC Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association, while one was put up by lawyer Naeem Ahmad Khattak.

The petitioners have mostly challenged the strike call given by the PAS and PMS leaders that led to the boycott of work by government servants across the province on June 6. They also challenged the formation of associations by civil servants.

Babar Khan Yousafzai, Tariq Afridi, Ali Azim Afridi and other lawyers appeared for the petitioners and requested the court to issue directives to the chief secretary to proceed against leaders of different government servants’ bodies over the strike call.

They requested the court to declare illegal the news releases issued by different government employees’ organisations, including the PAS Association, PMS Association and KP Tehsildar Association, on the matter.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2022