KARACHI, Nov 19: The general secretary of the Karachi Bar Association, Naeem Qureshi, who escaped detention since the launch of an operation against protesting lawyers following the imposition of emergency rule by Gen Pervez Musharraf over two weeks back, was finally arrested when he emerged from hiding to address the association’s general body meeting on Monday afternoon.

He was leaving the court premises after the KBA general body meeting at Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall when he was taken into custody by police at the main gate of the KBA office. He was then shifted to an unknown place.

This was the second attempt by the police, who had earlier raided the hall in the morning to arrest Mr Qureshi but lawyers’ resistance kept them away.

Before being picked up by the police, Naeem Qureshi, while addressing the general body meeting, had condemned the imposition of emergency rule in the country, police action against lawyers and the curbs on the press. He had demanded the reinstatement of all the deposed judges, the withdrawal of all the restrictions imposed on the media, and the release of all the lawyers detained in different jails of the country.

He had reiterated that the boycott of the judges who had taken an oath under the Provisional Constitution Order would continue and had paid tribute to those judges who did not accept the PCO.

He had also condemned the raid conducted by police on Shudha-i-Punjab Hall on Monday morning, saying that the lawyers had been harassed and the raid had been conducted without any search warrants. He said: “We have lodged a complaint with the First District and Sessions Judge, South, Khalid Teepu Rana, in this regard.”

The KBA general secretary had further said: “We want to conduct the annual election of the Karachi Bar Association for the year 2008 on time, which is scheduled for December 15, but the present situation may delay the polls.”

On the KBA general secretary’s complaint, meanwhile, Judge Khalid Teepu Rana directed the judicial magistrate, south, Zeeshan Akthar to visit the KBA office and submit a report.

Later, the KBA managing committee held an emergency meeting to condemn the arrest of the KBA general secretary. Seeking immediate release of all the detained lawyers, the meeting decided that a complete boycott of legal proceedings at the City Courts and Malir District Courts would be observed on Tuesday.