PESHAWAR: The standoff between lawyers and civil servants over the arrest of a senior legal practitioner in the provincial capital on the order of an additional assistant commissioner entered 11th day on Monday with members of the legal community continuing to boycott courts in Peshawar and 11 nearby districts.

The protesting lawyers requested the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council to extend the strike to the entire province.

Also, the symbolic strike by civil servants under the aegis of the Provincial Management Services (PMS), Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) and All Employees Coordination Council continued.

Wearing black armbands, the protesters said they would do away with the strike only after the government met their demands, including against the lawyers, who ‘attacked’ the office of Peshawar’s deputy commissioner during a demonstration on June 4.

Both sides to protest until demands met

The lawyers observed strike at the Peshawar High Court principal seat in Peshawar and courts in attached districts demanding the arrest and suspension of AAC Aftab Ahmad and his two police guards for ‘torturing’ lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah.

Litigants complained that hearing into their cases got delayed due to the lawyers’ strike to their misery.

In a joint meeting, the PHC Bar association (PHCBA) and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) decided to continue with its earlier decision of boycotting all courts in Peshawar and nearby districts and stage a sit-in near the provincial assembly building today (Tuesday).

They also decided to hold a rally on June 15 from outside the high court to the Peshawar Press Club.

The participants requested the KPBC to announce extension of the strike to the entire province until the acceptance of their demands by the government. They also called upon the Pakistan Bar Council to announce a countrywide strike on the issue.

Meanwhile, the protesting civil servants reiterated their demands, including protection in offices, legislation for magisterial powers to field officers, effective implementation of the Civil Administration Act, 2020, declaring of deputy commissioners as justices of peace under the Code of Criminal procedure, ban on FIR registration against civil servants without the approval of the chief secretary and and establishment of special enforcement force for district administration.

The issue between lawyers and civil servants began after FIR registration against and arrest of lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah, who was accused by AAC Aftab Ahmad of stopping him from performing his duty at a filling station on June 2.

In the FIR, 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 the AAC and police constables Ilyas and Ahmad Shah on June 4 after a local court accepted a petition of the lawyer, who had charged them for torturing him and keeping him in illegal confinement.

Similarly, another FIR was registered against some lawyers on complaint of the district administration accusing the lawyers of attacking the office of the deputy commissioner during a demonstration on June 4.

Published in Dawn,June 14th, 2022