PESHAWAR: Lawyers on Tuesday observed a strike across the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province against the registration of a criminal case against a member of the provincial bar council and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader, Ali Zaman, at a local police station.

The bar council had given the call for strike to lawyers a day earlier and demanded the withdrawal of the FIR registered against Mr Zaman at Peshawar’s Nasirbagh police station.

Lawyers mostly stayed away from proceedings before different courts, including the Peshawar High Court, its benches in Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Mingora, and Abbottabad, and subordinate courts.

Mr Zaman, who was an independent candidate backed by the PTI, had contested the PK-73 Peshawar constituency in the February 8 general elections. However, his rival candidate of PTI-Parliamentarians, Arbab Mohammad Waseem Khan, was declared elected to the said seat by the concerned returning officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Demands case withdrawal

Mr Zaman, who is also the former president of the Peshawar Bar Association, had alleged that a female assistant commissioner, who was

the returning officer of the said constituency, had manipulated election results to declare his rival candidate an MPA.

Addressing a public meeting here a few days ago, Mr Zaman used ‘harsh’ language against the female officer and levelled several allegations against her. The video went viral on social media.

An FIR was reportedly registered against Mr Zaman on a complaint filed by the said officer’s husband, in which he had been accused of multiple offences including hurling threats and using derogatory language.

Bar council vice-chairman Sadiq Ali Mohmand and executive committee chairman Syed Taimoor Ali Shah claimed that the FIR was registered in an illegal manner and didn’t conform to the law.

They said registration of a criminal case against Mr Zaman was a violation of freedom of expression, which was guaranteed by the Constitution.

The council members said they stood by Mr Zaman and wouldn’t allow any unconstitutional and illegal acts by the local police and administration against him.

Meanwhile, the PHC Bar Association condemned the registration of the

FIR against Mr Zaman and demanded that high-ranking police officers conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter.

A meeting of the association chaired by its president, Fida Gul, declared that the case was baseless and was registered on the basis of mala fide.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2024