PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council on Saturday announced to observe province-wide strike on July 6 (Monday) against the manhandling of a female lawyer by a litigant in Peshawar Judicial Complex few days ago.

A general body meeting of KP Bar Council was held to discuss different issues pertaining to lawyers. The meeting expressed concern over the incident wherein the female lawyer, Madiha Parvez, was manhandled by a litigant, with whom she was having a civil dispute, which had resulted into injuries to her.

The participants condemned the occurrence and termed it an attack on the sanctity of courts, rule of law and dignity of legal fraternity. They announced that lawyers would observe complete strike and won’t appear in courts in all the districts, tehsils and Peshawar High Court.

The meeting also decided to convene a special meeting on July 11 for discussing the pending issue of holding annual elections of high court, district and tehsil bar associations across the province.

That meeting would be attended by council vice-chairman Asfandyar Khan, chairman of its executive committee Malik Imad Azam, and members of the executive committee Syed Mubashir Shah, Mohammad Saeed Khan, Farooq Sabir, Ikram Hussain, Sofia Noreen, Waqas Raza Khan and Fazal Wahid Khan.

The meeting would make final decision about holding of annual polls following which the election schedule would be announced.

It is pertinent to mention that the issue of lawyer’s manhandling took place on June 23, whereas FIR of the incident was registered on July 1. A video footage of the occurrence has also gone viral on social media resulting into widespread condemnations.

The CCTV footage clearly showed the suspect slapping the female lawyer and knocking her to the ground.

The complainant advocate Madiha told police that the suspect, Abdul Sadiq, a resident of Hayatabad, had filed a civil case against her. She said that during the hearing on June 23, she submitted a review petition in court, which infuriated the suspect, who insulted and hurled abuses at her inside the courtroom, prompting the judge to expel him from the premises.

However, she claimed when she stepped outside the courtroom, the suspect assaulted and injured her.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2026