KARACHI, June 25: Lawyers in the City Courts extended the routine one-hour boycott of the court proceedings to two hours to lodge their protest against the government’s failure to protect the lives of people in the recent torrential rains.
During the boycott, the Karachi Bar Association held a general body meeting which was addressed by Supreme Court Bar Association Managing Committee Member Mr Rizwan, KBA Vice-President Qadir Khan, General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi, Ghulam Nabi Magsi, Umer Hayat Sindho, Naheed Afzaal, Iqbal Aqeel, Mushaffay Ahmed and other lawyers.
They demanded imposition of heavy fine and registration of criminal cases against the owners of the hoardings that caused deaths of several people in the metropolis.
The lawyers urged the Sindh High Court to take a suo motu notice of the killings due to criminal negligence of the civic agencies. They said the rulers should accept their failure and tender resignations as scores of lives were lost in rain-related accidents.
Expressing their deep shock over the killings, they demanded removal of all hoardings without further delay and payment of compensation to the injured and the heirs of the deceased.
In a unanimously approved resolution, they said the owners of hoardings should be fined under the Fatal Accident Law. They said at least Rs1 million should be paid to the heirs of each victim besides registration of criminal cases against those responsible for installing hoardings in an improper way.
They held the provincial and city governments responsible for the loss of lives in the rain-related incidents and said it was duty of the officials to check the quality of boards prior to and after the installation of the hoardings. The officials were criticised for issuing licences for the hoardings on the basis of personal relations and, the lawyers observed, that was why the quality of the material was not checked.
The lawyers asked the city government officials to conduct a survey for ascertaining the condition of trees along the roads and suggested that trees with weak body should be uprooted immediately.
They said almost all officials of the government departments were serving their own interests and they were least bothered about their duties. It could only be checked by an independent judiciary, they said, adding that their struggle for the independence of the judiciary would continue at all costs.
They said that President Pervez Musharraf should step down and hand over the powers to a caretaker setup, which would be responsible for holding national elections in a transparent manner. They said the powers of the election commissioner should be given to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, to ensure free, fair and impartial elections in the country.
Talking to journalists at the bar room, Sindh High Court Bar Association General-Secretary Shaikh Munir-ur-Rehman expressed his shock over the deaths and demanded an inquiry into the incidents.
Meanwhile, the World Reforms Commission and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz group) announced that they were working on separate petitions to be filed soon in the High Court of Sindh against the officials of the civic agencies for their failure to check the quality of hoardings.