PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council announced province-wide strike today (Monday) against the killing of junior lawyer Mian Asim Shah Kakakhel allegedly by police in Charsadda district two days ago.

In a press release issued here, the bar council stated that police first killed the innocent person and then took into custody his family members by raiding their residence. The council said that police tried to portray the occurrence as an encounter and kept relatives of deceased in illegal detention for many hours.

The council directed legal fraternity across the province not to appear before any of the courts. It demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, inspector general of police and Charsadda district police officer to forthwith arrest the relevant station house officer, who was already nominated in the FIR and award him exemplary punishment.

Meanwhile, president of Peshawar High Court Bar Association Ameenur Rehman Yousafzai has condemned the incident and requested the chief justice of high court to order a judicial inquiry into the matter.

During a visit to the residence of the deceased to condole his death, Mr Yousafzai said that they would constitute a legal team to provide justice to the bereaved family and award punishment to killers.

He regretted that police officials misused the official resources and their uniform and martyred a young lawyer. He said that lawyers believed in rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution and won’t allow any institution to overstep its powers.

He claimed that looking at the initial investigation by police, it appeared that they were trying to save the skin of their colleagues.

CONFERENCE: A conference attended by leaders of all political parties of Charsadda district was held on the occasion of the Soyem of the slain lawyer on Sunday.

The participants of the conference set one-week deadline for immediate arrest of the nominated accused, SHO Behramand Shah, in the murder case of Advocate Mian Asim Shah. They said that all cases, including terrorism charges filed by police against innocent individuals, should be immediately withdrawn.

The president of Charsadda District Bar Association, Mujeebur-Rehman, announced a complete boycott of court proceedings on Monday in accordance with the decision of bar council.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025