LAHORE, July 7: Old Anarkali police have registered an FIR against senior lawyers A.K. Dogar and Syed Feroze Shah Gillani under Section 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The police have registered the FIR on the complaint of Advocate Muhammad Afaq who has accused both lawyers of defrauding public and courts. Afaq said in the FIR that Gillani was not a lawyer, but Dogar’s tout.

The complainant accused Dogar of illegally establishing the Pakistan Lawyers Forum and patronising criminal activities of Gillani.

Afaq mentioned in the FIR that both lawyers had filed baseless petitions against President Asif Ali Zardari and levelled allegations against him. He said both lawyers were involved in anti-state activities and had been hatching conspiracies against the federation.

Talking to Dawn, Dogar said all allegations levelled in the FIR were bogus and that Gillani was a bonafide lawyer. He said Gillani got himself enrolled with the Sindh Bar Council and there was no bar on him to practice law in any other province. Any lawyer registered with a provincial bar council can appear in any court of the country, he added. Dogar said Afaq was playing in the hands of Pakistan People’s Party leaders and described registration of FIR against him as his political victimisation.

Gillani was petitioner in a case in the Lahore High Court against President Zardari’s dual office and Dogar was his counsel. The LHC had ruled that the president could not hold a political office.