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LAHORE, Jan 12: The Lahore Bar Association election has been postponed for one week as the lawyers of the superior and subordinate courts have decided to mourn the death of additional advocate-general Arif Bhinder who was killed here on Friday.
The election, which was scheduled to be held on Jan 13, will now take place on Jan 20. The decision to defer the election was made by the LBA general house through a resolution which said the lawyers across Punjab would mourn the death of Arif Bhinder, also a Punjab Bar Council member, for the next one week.
The general house met on the request of Pir Muhammad Masood Chishti, the chairperson of the three-member election board, who said the community was deeply aggrieved over the death of a colleague.
Mr Chishti said the present office-holders would continue in office for the next one week. Election of other district bars in Punjab have also been postponed.
Condemnation: Regretting the killing of Arif Bhinder and others, Law Minister Raja Basharat said on Friday special police teams had been constituted for the early arrest of culprits.
In a statement issued here, the minister said the killing was the outcome of Mr Bhinder’s personal enmity but police had nevertheless been asked to immediately conduct investigations into it. Three policemen were also killed in the incident while performing duty.
He condoled with the families of the killed and assured them that the culprits could not escape punishment.
PPP: Punjab PPP President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Secretary-General Ghulam Abbas and Information Secretary Farzana Raja have condemned the killing of additional advocate general Chaudhry Arif Bhinder and others in the city on Friday.
The leaders, expressing serious concern over the deteriorating law and order in Punjab, particularly in Lahore, said the city had become safe haven for robbers, dacoits and serial killers. The people of Lahore usually avoid using cell phones at public places out of fear of being robbed, they added.
They castigated the government for `using all resources and machinery against the PPP’ accusing the rulers of running a malicious propaganda campaign against Benazir Bhutto.
The province had been hit by a wave of increasing street crime, bank robberies, cell-phone snatching and home-dacoities, they added.
They said Punjab was far ahead of other provinces as far as crime rate was concerned.
The PPP leaders demanded that the government must take action against the culprits responsible for the killings.
