LAHORE: Lahore Bar Association (LBA) members staged a protest rally on Thursday against 26th amendment and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill 2025.

Earlier, a general house meeting was held under the leadership of LBA’s newly-elected President Mubashir Rehman.

Speaking at the meeting, he criticised the 26th amendment, calling it an attack on the independence of the judiciary. He labelled the latest amendments to Peca as a new example of human rights violations.

He also condemned the removal of Supreme Court Bar Association Secretary Salman Mansoor for speaking against the amendment.

The LBA president alleged that both the legal profession and journalism were being suppressed.

“If you don’t come out in protest, they will enter your homes,” he said, urging the lawyers to fight the ‘oppression’. The house also condemned the murder of a female lawyer allegedly by her husband.

Later, Rehman led the rally starting from Aiwan-i-Adl and reaching at GPO Chowk, where members of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) welcomed and joined it. The protesters chanted slogans against the 26th Amendment and Peca Act.

The rally concluded at Charing Cross outside the Punjab Assembly.

LHCBA: A general house meeting of the LHCBA called for full court hearing on petitions against the 26th Amendment. It also rejected the Peca amendments.

LHCBA President Asad Manzoor Butt presided over the meeting attended by senior lawyer Senator Hamid Khan, Pakistan Bar Council member Shafqat Chohan, LHCBA Vice President Sardar Ali Gehlan, and Punjab Bar Council member Amir Jalil Siddiqui along with other lawyers.

The meeting passed a resolution calling for the live broadcast of court proceedings on the 26th Amendment cases. It also demanded that no new judges be appointed to the Supreme Court and that the judicial commission’s meeting be cancelled until the full court completes its hearing on the 26th Amendment.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2025