LAHORE: A lawyers’ convention hosted by the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) opposed the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments and warned of a possible boycott of courts over mandatory biometric verification for case filing.

The convention, held at a private hotel, was presided over by LBA President Irfan Hayat Bajwa. The elected representatives of bar associations from various districts of Punjab, along with a large number of lawyers, attended the event.

Addressing the convention, Bajwa said the event was not for any political party but against the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments.

He said bar associations remained the only platform where voices were raised for the Constitution and the rule of law. He condemned restrictions imposed by the Punjab Bar Council, the regulatory body of lawyers, on bar associations for giving strike calls.

Bajwa maintained that bar associations should retain the authority to call strikes within their respective districts for the protection of lawyers’ rights and condemned restrictions imposed on such calls.

Disapproving a newly-introduced system of biometric verification of litigants, he said that citizens were facing increasing difficulties at the courts. He stated that more complications were being created in the name of improvement in the judicial system.

He warned that lawyers would boycott court proceedings from Monday if the condition of biometric verification for filing cases was not withdrawn.

At the convention, speakers also condemned alleged extrajudicial killings by the Crime Control Department (CCD), claiming that the department had been established unlawfully.

They further condemned the transfer of the judges from the Islamabad High Court to other high courts.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2026