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MUZAFFARGARH, March 2: The District Bar Association (DBA) decided on Friday to take strict security measures on court premises after a bomb blast in Multan in which a judge was injured.
DBA President Zubaidul Islam Sherwani told Dawn that lawyers, court officials and litigants would enter the court through a gate on Multan Road and other entrance points would be closed. He said security guards would be deployed at the entrance gate and every one entering the court would thoroughly be searched. He said the bar had arranged a parking lot for lawyers and court officials near the Fiaz Park and no vehicle would be allowed inside the court. Sherwani said that he had set up a seven-member committee to implement the security measures for lawyers and judges.
He said Quetta and Multan blasts had created a sense of insecurity among lawyers and judges. He said Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Bashir Ahmed Bhatti, who was injured in a bomb blast in Multan, was an honest and professional judge.
A large number of people thronged the native town of Bhatti in Kamalpur, Khangarh, 20 kilometres from Muzaffargarh, after hearing the news of the blast. The DBA will observe a strike on Saturday in protest against the attack on the judge.
STRIKE: Patwaris observed a tehsil-wide strike in protest against police’s failure to arrest the accused who beat one of their colleagues in Shah Jamal. They did not participate in official work and wore black armbands.
According to them, Abdul Ghaffar, a patwari in Shah Jamal, went to Imran Dhanoter, a former union council nazim, on Tuesday for the recovery of land revenue. Imran took it as insult and arrived at Ghafar’s office along with his 50 accomplices, beat him and tore his official records. Ghaffar was admitted to hospital for treatment. On Thursday, he lodged a first information report with Shah Jamal Police Station but police did not arrest the accused. On Friday, 110 patwaris of the Revenue Department observed the strike and said they would continue it until police arrested the accused. They alleged that the accused were roaming freely in the area. They warned that if the accused were not arrested until March 5, they would extend the strike to the divisional level.
AD Khan, a police official of Shah Jamal Police Station, said that police were trying their best to arrest the accused.
TOXIC WATER: Residents of Lutkaran and Pir Jehanian staged a demonstration against a local textile mills, which according to them, was polluting underground water. They said effluent and toxic water duped by the mills had destroyed their crops and caused water-born diseases in the area.
The demonstration was led by Shoaib Khan Dasti , union council nazim. They called on District Coordination Officer Tariq Najib Najmi and apprised him of their grievances. Najmi ordered Executive District Officer (Community Development) Malik Kher Muhammad Budh to take immediate action against the mill owners.
