LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) on Thursday expressed concerns and disappointment over alleged violations of the Constitution and the rule of law and undermining of independence of judiciary in the country.

At a joint press conference, the elected representatives of both associations said the lawyers across the country had rejected the 26th Amendment being against the basic structure and features of the Constitution and there was no question of any negotiations in this regard.

LHCBA President Malik Asif Nissoana, LBA President Mubashir Rehman, professional group’s head Senator Hamid Khan and others spoke at the conference.

They condemned the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) for holding ‘illegal’ trials of political leaders and workers, sentencing them to various terms of imprisonment being malicious, biased, unjust, dictated and politically motivated. They also condemned the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for disqualifying political leaders and parliamentarians allegedly in an unconstitutional manner. They claimed that the lawyers had rejected the deferment of advocates’ enrollment for the Supreme Court by a ‘biased and politically motivated’ enrollment committee of the Pakistan Bar Council.

The lawyers’ representatives said there should be no amendments in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973 in the year of the elections to the Pakistan and the provincial bar councils. They rejected the proposed amendment to the law being politically motivated. They demanded that all elections of the bar councils and associations across the country should be held on the basis of a biometric system to defeat any possibility of rigging.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2025