The LHC Bar hoisted black flags on its premises, and its members wore black armbands as part of their agitation, which seemingly turned into a conflict when a general house meeting resolved that the Bar had no dispute with any member of the judiciary except the chief justice.
“We feel that the chief justice, who has brought the profession of law into disrepute by getting a good number of law chambers razed to ground, is responsible for creating an atmosphere of confrontation with lawyers,” said a resolution which was adopted amidst emotion-ridden speeches.
The meeting’s mood turned from lukewarm protest to bitterness when advocate Raja Aamer said that the Bar had no business to deal with issues not relevant to it. Raja Aamer was pushed, shoved around and finally carried out of the meeting.
The incident followed adoption of an unanimous resolution that demanded that the senior-most judge, Justice Fakharun Nisa Khokhar, should be acknowledged as the chief justice in the light of the decision in the Al-Jihad Trust case which adjudged the seniority of judges for elevation.
The meeting also decided that the lawyers, affected by the Fane Road demolition, would stage a sit-in against the chief justice’s act for three days from Thursday at a camp to be organized at the Bar premises.
LHCBA secretary Muzammil Akhtar Shabbir claimed at a news conference that the lawyers boycott was a big success across the province.
He claimed that the strike was observed in Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Sahiwal, Okara, Khushab, Gujrat, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Kasur, Hafizabad, Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Narowal, Mianwali and Sargodha districts.
The district Bar associations also passed resolutions against the chief justice.
LHCBA president Hafiz Abdur Rahman Ansari later told a news conference that the Bar had served a show-cause notice on Raja Aamer whose conduct was considered to be in conflict with the community’s interests.
He said the Bar was prepared to negotiate a settlement of the chambers issue but talks should be held only with its president or secretary.
Mr Ansari thanked the office-bearers of the Bar councils and associations from the NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan, besides the Pakistan Bar Council for supporting the LHCBA cause. He felicitated lawyers across the Punjab who made the strike and boycott call a success.
Tight security arrangements were made in Lahore to avoid any untoward incidents. Police were deployed at the Lahore High Court, the sessions and civil courts.