BAHAWALNAGAR: As many as 21 lawyers have been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for allegedly trying to occupy the land of the Minchinabad assistant commissioner (AC) office, damaging government property and thrashing revenue officials with sticks and bricks here on Thursday.

The first information report registered with the Minchinabad police, on the complaint of Patwari Muhammad Tariq, stated that on Wednesday evening, 21 lawyers, including Ijaz Gujjar, Shahzad Bhatti, Ahmed Raza, Hafiz Zahid, Wasim Wattoo, and Hassan Raza, along with private persons and machinery, attempted to occupy the AC Office land by chopping down trees. It claimed that when the area patwari and his revenue team attempted to prevent the suspects from occupying the land, they attacked the team, seriously injuring junior clerks Muhammad Amir, Umar Farooq, and Khizr Hayat, who were immediately shifted to the hospital for treatment.

The complaint demanded that a case be filed against the aforementioned individuals under sections 440, 506B, 324, 511, 447, 148, and 149 of the PPC, including the ATA, for assaulting revenue officials, threatening them with dire consequences, cutting down government trees, damaging government property, and attempting to occupy government land.

Police registered the case against six nominated and around 15 unknown lawyers under sections 148, 149, 324, 440, 447, 506B, and 511 of PPC and also invoked 7-ATA against the suspects and started investigations.

Dispute erupts as lawyers want to build women bar room on revenue dept land

In this context, multiple videos have gone viral on social media in which several lawyers could be seen misbehaving with revenue officials, including the Minchinabad AC, on the premises of his office.

According to revenue sources, the Minchinabad AC office is adjacent to the civil court, and its position means that lawyers’ chambers surround the AC office, but there is no wall between the court and the AC office to make them look distinct. They claimed that lawyers had already illegally built their chambers on more than eight kanals of the revenue department’s 17 kanal area, where the AC office was located. They were now demanding that a women bar room be established on the vacant plot of the revenue department adjacent to the AC office, however, the Minchinabad AC had refused to grant them permission to develop on the site, which resulted in the dispute.

Meanwhile, a letter from the All Pakistan Clerk Association (APCA) and Minchinabad Anjuman Patwarian to the Manchinabad AC, had been circulating on the social media, condemning the attack on the revenue team by lawyers and claiming that some lawyers were attempting to occupy the revenue land, which was a clear violation of the law.

The letter alleged that photographs and video footage proved that not only were all these criminal activities carried out in the presence of the esteemed judges, but some lawyers also engaged in misbehaviour and rioting, cutting down trees and breaking electric wires. The unions sought legal action against the lawyers implicated in the incident.

Speaking to Dawn, AC Atiq Khan said that the area designated for the Minchinabad AC complex in the Board of Revenue records was approximately 17 kanals, of which the AC office building was located on a 10-marla plot and the revenue department offices roughly covered the same area.

He claimed that the civil court lawyers had illegally constructed chambers on an approximately eight-kanal area. He stated that for the past few days, the lawyers had demanded constructing a women bar room on the complex’s remaining vacant space, and that they had been instructed to follow the prescribed constitutional procedure for the bar room’s construction and obtain permission from the Board of Revenue. However, the AC stated that the lawyers were keen on building a bar room at the specified location without following any procedures.

According to the AC, the lawyers began construction at the site without authorisation a day ago, and when they were stopped, they tortured and misbehaved with him as well as Pera and revenue officials, as seen by recordings that had gone viral. He stated that although a case had been filed against the lawyers, they were still not only harassing and misbehaving with him, but they were also adamant that they would build not only bar room on the complex’s land, but also lawyers’ chambers, just as their seniors had ‘illegally’ built chambers on the revenue property.

Several video clips have gone viral, showing scores of lawyers chanting slogans against the AC outside his office on Thursday afternoon.

When contacted, Minchinabad Bar President Saeed Ahmad said that he would release a statement later.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2026