PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC) on Wednesday announced postponement of its protest scheduled for today (Dec 15) near the Parliament House, Islamabad, claiming that the federal law minister had assured it that proposed Lawyers Protection Act would be approved by the federal cabinet within three weeks.

However, the lawyers’ community will continue with the announced boycott of courts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today (Thursday) on the same issue.

The decision to hold a protest outside the Parliament House was taken in a meeting of All Pakistan Lawyers Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee in Peshawar on Nov 26. The meeting had warned that in case of failure of the government to enact the proposed law, the lawyers would stage a protest in Islamabad.

According to a press release issued here by KPBC’s secretary Syed Sajidullah, representatives of bar councils, including KPBC’s vice-chairman Mohammad Ali Khan Jadoon, its executive committee chairman Mohammad Ilyas Khan, its member in the Judicial Commission for Appointment of Judges Ahmad Farooq Khattak and others held a meeting with Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar.

It was stated that the minister had assured them that the proposed law would be approved by the cabinet within three weeks after which it would be tabled before the parliament.

The bar council has asked all the district and tehsil associations of lawyers to hold meetings on Thursday and apprise the members about importance of the proposed law.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2022