LAHORE, June 13: The Lahore High Court Bar Association at its general house meeting on Friday approved resolutions for the cancellation of the Punjab Bar Council vice-chairman and the Lahore Bar Association president’s bar membership.
The proceedings of the meeting were dominated by rumpus, as the lawyers gathered at the Lahore High Court’s Kiyani Hall to support the resolutions. They shouted, clapped and chanted slogans for more than an hour to counter the voices of those favouring the two office-bearers.
It was announced in the resolutions that the LHCBA membership of LBA President Mansoorur Rahman Khan Afridi and PBC Vice-Chairman Muhammad Arif Chaudhry had been revoked for having invited President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the provincial chief minister, respectively, to the bar gatherings arranged in the last two weeks.
A joint resolution for the return of Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif was also passed. The lawyers also demanded Asif Ali Zardari’s release.
Both the office-bearers were accused of having invited these personalities in violation of an announcement made by the lawyers’ Joint Action Committee before the LFO’s solution in parliament.
The LHCBA leaders came out with a planned aggressive strategy for presenting the resolutions in the house in anticipation of a strong opposition from the lawyers supporting the PBC VC and the LBA president.
LHCBA President Hafiz Abdul Rahman Ansari, Pakistan Bar Council’s Executive Committee chairman Kazim Khan, former vice-chairman Muhammad Ramzan Chaudhry and other LHCBA members assembled at the hall 45 minutes earlier than the fixed time.
The LHCBA members occupied the dais and the seats around it. After a short while, a group of young lawyers started chanting slogans against Gen Pervez Musharraf and the LBA president. This provoked the supporters of LBA president who reacted by raising slogans against LBA Vice-President Aslam Hayat Sandhu. He had boycotted the bar gathering held in the honour of Gen Musharraf.
The anti-Musharraf faction stood on the conference tables and started shouting at the other group. The LHCBA president joined the lawyers raising slogans against the PBC VC and the LBA president.
Tempers flared when both the groups lifted chairs to throw at each other. However, they refrained from doing so on the interference of senior bar members. At 10:30am, the LHCBA president read out the resolutions to the bar members after which it was announced by him and his supporters that resolutions were carried.
Uproar by the lawyers intensified, as the lawyers opposing the resolutions came out of the hall. They remained outside the hall for a while, protesting against the conduct of the house. They said the LHCBA president had forcibly approved the resolutions well before the meeting time.
Meanwhile, those inside the hall kept on chanting slogans against Gen Musharraf, LFO and the two bar office bearers. Later, they assembled at the LHC premises and raised slogans in favour of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto for half an hour before dispersing.