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KARACHI, Jan 10: In response to a strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council, the lawyers observed a complete boycott of court proceedings in the City Courts and Malir District Courts on Thursday. They were protesting against the ousting of the judges, detention of top leaders of the PBC, amendments made in the constitution and in the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, 1973.
About 282 undertrial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons, but their cases could not be heard as the lawyers did not attend courts and the UTPs were taken back to their respective prisons. However, the judges were present in their chambers.
The canteens situated on the court premises remained open, but stamp paper and stationery shops did not open.
General-body meeting
A general body meeting of the KBA was held in the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts on Thursday.
Speaking at the meeting, lawyers condemned the unprecedented increase in the price of wheat flour, and urged President Musharraf to step down, saying his regime had failed to give any relief to the common man.
The president of the Karachi Bar Association, Mahmoodul Hassan, said the government was not sincere about holding elections and using tactics to postpone the general election. He blamed the government for the poor law and order situation after the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, and said FIRs should be registered against the police officials concerned instead of ordering their transfers.
He urged the political parties to jointly launch a movement for the restoration of democracy and the independence of the judiciary and against the price hike.
KBA general sectary Naeem Qureshi, K.K. Javaid Khan, Mohammad Ali Abbassi, Sathi Ishaq and Naeem Gul also spoke at the meeting.
They vowed to continue their struggle against the ousting of the chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, the detention of the top PBC leaders and other lawyers across the country and the amendments made by President Musharraf in the constitution.
Protest rally
Later, the lawyers took out a procession from the KBA office, marched on Raja Riaz Shaheed Road (formerly Lewis Road) and then entered back into the City Court through Gate 2. They shouted anti-Musharraf and anti-government slogans during the rally.
Police contingents were deputed around the City Courts to tackle the situation, but they remained calm since the lawyers decided against marching on M. A. Jinnah Road.
The president of the Malir Bar Association, Zahoor Hussain Mehar, told Dawn that a complete boycott of the courts was observed at Malir. Court proceedings remained suspended at the Malir District Courts in protest against the outing of the judges and detention of Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood, he added.
Meanwhile, the oath-taking ceremony of the new cabinet of the Karachi Bar Association will be held on Jan 12. The KBA has invited Justice Rana Bhagwandas, a former judge of the Supreme Court, and all the deposed judges of the Sindh High Court to attend the ceremony.
The legal fraternity also condemned the suicide blast outside the Lahore High Court, which killed more than 24 people and wounded around 70 others.
The Sindh High Court Bar Association also called on Thursday for a consensus-oriented national government to hold free and fair elections.
A resolution passed by the association’s general body said the caretaker government was a continuation of the military regime as is evident from the continued confinement of the deposed chief justice and judges and Bar leaders Aitzaz Ahsan, Tariq Mahmood and Ali Ahmed Kurd. The neutrality and impartiality of the caretaker government stood exposed by other policies and decisions also.
The resolution described PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s assassination ‘a great tragedy and irreparable national loss’. It was an attempt to derail the democratic process.
The government was guilty of ‘criminal negligence’ as it failed to take adequate measures despite the Oct 18 bomb explosions at Ms Benazir’s rally in Karachi.
The resolution endorsed the Pakistan Bar Council decision to confer the title of ‘Shaheed-i-Jamhooriyat’ or martyr to the cause of democracy on the late leader.
