LAHORE: Multan District Bar Association (DBA) on Friday staged a protest demonstration against the Lahore High Court (LHC) decision to make biometric verification mandatory for litigants and the imposition of fees in this regard.

During the protest led by former president of the High Court Bar Association Multan, Syed Riazul Hassan Gilani, lawyer chanted slogans against the judicial policy, calling it an injustice to litigants, and demanded immediate withdrawal of the biometric verification condition.

Addressing the protesters, Mr Gilani said if lawyer’s demands were not accepted, the protest movement would be expanded to every tehsil and district of the province.

He announced that if the demands were not accepted, the lawyers’ would stage a long march on the Lahore High Court and a sit-in, besieging the chief justice’s court.

He termed the mandatory biometric verification, along with a fee of Rs200, an additional burden on poor litigants.

According to him, out of the Rs200 fee, Rs60 have been allocated to the bar association, and Rs20 to the court staff, despite the fact that judicial employees are already receiving heavy salaries and privileges from the government.

He alleged that the policy was promoting “judicial extortion” and corruption worth millions of rupees.

During the protest, a female lawyer, Shamim Akhtar, fell unconscious due to intense heat.

A Rescue 1122 team shifted the lawyer to Nishtar Hospital’s emergency ward in an ambulance.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2026