LAHORE: The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) and Lahore Bar Association (LBA) on Friday denounced Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Anwar for his comments on the lawyers’ strike in protest against the shifting of civil courts to Model Town.

The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) termed the police chief’s statement interference in the internal affairs of the bar and the bench.

In a statement, PbBC Vice Chairman Kamran Bashir Mughal said the IGP had unnecessarily and maliciously passed comments on the strike by the lawyers and lockdown of the district courts in protest against the shifting of courts to Model Town.

He said the police had nothing to do with the lawyers’ protest and any disagreement between the bar and the bench.

IGP had suggested police deployment on district courts to deal with lawyers’ protest

“The IGP has no mandate to comment on internal affairs of the lawyers,” Mughal declared.

He described the comments by the IGP as a conspiracy to create differences between the bar and the bench.

He advised the Punjab Police chief to stay away from the bar’s issues and use his ‘abilities’ to control worsening law and order situation and street crime in the province.

He said incidents of firing and killings on the courts’ premises occurred due to the negligence of police.

The PbBC vice chairman demanded the federal government transfer the IGP for acting beyond his jurisdiction.

In a separate statement, Lahore Bar Association (LBA) President Munir Hussain Bhatti also condemned the IGP for his comments.

He said the bar always observed strike as a last resort as the lawyers themselves suffered from the protests. He said the statement of the IGP smacked of a conspiracy against the lawyers. He claimed that the lawyers would foil every attempt to break their unity.

IGP Anwar had reportedly suggested deployment of a heavy contingent of police on the district courts to deal with the lawyers’ protest against the shifting of civil courts to Model Town.

A bar leader said the seven-member administration committee of the Lahore High Court would take up the matter of the courts’ shifting in its upcoming meeting this week.

He said the bar expected a positive

decision by the committee under the chair of newly-appointed Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2024