PESHAWAR, Nov 20: The Peshawar High Court claimed on Tuesday that 67 lawyers had been released in the province on the intervention of Chief Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi.

According to a press release issued here by the court’s registrar, Syed Musaddiq Hussain Gillani, the lawyers were released in two batches. The rest of the detained lawyers would be released soon, it added.

The handout also mentioned the names of the 67 lawyers released. The court had earlier claimed that the chief justice had obtained details of all the advocates, who were put behind bars since Nov 3, from the provincial government.

Justice Qureshi stated that the lawyers were law-abiding people and no useful purpose could be served by keeping them away from their families and courts.

The chief justice was of the firm belief that the bench and the bar were two wheels of the same chariot and both were to work in unison in the administration of justice and providing relief to the litigant masses whose cases had been lingering on in different courts due to the continued absence of lawyers.

According to the list given by the high court, most of the released lawyers belonged to Peshawar, Abbottabad, Haripur, Swabi, Mansehra, Mardan, Karak, Charsadda and Nowshera.