LAHORE, Aug 11: Punjab Bar Council has accused Attorney General Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum (retired) of attempting to sow seeds of contention among lawyers by announcing controversial free legal aid programme.

According to a statement issued here on Saturday, this was stated at a meeting on Saturday under the chairmanship of PbBC Free Legal Aid Committee Chairman Rana Abdul Shakoor Khan.

The PbBC said not only the programme was aimed at creating a rift among the lawyers but also stealing money from the national exchequer, the statement said. Shakoor alleged that Mr Qayyum had already tried to misappropriate Rs100 million funds of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

He also accused Mr Qayyum of charging millions of rupees for preparing documents against the CJP in a bid to lend credibility to the presidential reference. “The first agenda of his appointment as attorney general was to draw a wedge between the lawyers,” the statement said. It said on Aug 18 the bar’s FLAC would hold an All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention to carve out an agenda to tackle conspiracy against lawyers.

It said President Gen Musharraf could not give any grant to attorney general under free legal aid because under the law the grants could only be given to the bar councils and bar associations.

The meeting was attended by Zafar Mehmood Mughal, Sanaullah Zahid, M Azhar Chaudhry, Muhammad Yasin Sohal, Malik Ghulam Abbas Awan, Amir Jalil Siddiqi, Zaman Mangat and Shahid Muzamal Hussain Sherazi. —Reporter