ISLAMABAD: The capital police raided 17 locations to arrest lawyers nominated in a case registered following a clash with the president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA).

Police officials said that 70 lawyers were nominated in the case, along with 150 to 200 unidentified persons, in an FIR lodged at the Secretariat Police Station on the complaint of IHCBA President Syed Wajid Ali Shah Gillani.

After registration of the case, the police obtained arrest warrants. Later, separate police teams raided different places, including the residences of 11 lawyers nominated in the FIR.

By evening, 17 raids had been conducted in the capital, but all remained unsuccessful as the nominated individuals had gone into hiding to avoid arrest.

Footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the IHC and Constitution Avenue was also being obtained and examined to identify others involved in the clash.

According to the FIR, Advocate Gillani went to the parking area outside the IHCBA office, where he spotted 60 to 70 people dressed in lawyers’ uniforms along with 150 to 200 unidentified persons. They were chanting slogans against the IHC chief justice, state institutions and the army.

Advocate Gillani asked the lawyers to refrain from such acts, but the mob ‘attacked and manhandled him’. They also allegedly ‘verbally abused’ him and threatened him with dire consequences.

Office-bearers and staff of the IHCBA rescued him, after which the group dispersed.

In a post on her X account, Shireen Mazari stated that at 1am a heavily armed police party from the Secretariat Police Station surrounded her house and asked for Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha.

“They were not there and we informed them. Police said there was an FIR against them and they should report to the police station, and then they left,” she wrote.

In another post, Ms Mazari said that all videos of the IHC protest clearly showed the FIR charges were false, adding that eyewitness accounts also confirmed this.

“But the persecution of Imaan and Hadi has become a daily routine by the state. Ironic that PTI lawyers’ support got the IHC bar president elected,” she added.

Reportedly, lawyers had staged a protest on the IHC premises to oppose the suspension of Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from judicial work.

However, tension flared when, after the demonstration, PTI-affiliated lawyers confronted the IHCBA president.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2025