KARACHI, Oct 1: As the legal fraternity observed on Monday a complete boycott of court proceedings to express solidarity with the lawyers and journalists beaten up and wounded by police in Islamabad on Sept 29, it was discovered that miscreants on Saturday night took away all the four close-circuit TV cameras, smashed windowpanes, and demolished the recently-built Karachi Bar Association monument in front of the KBA bar room.
The monument was specially erected to be inaugurated by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry during his planned visit to the City Courts and Sindh High Court on May 12. The visit was sabotaged by the May 12 mayhem.
Karachi Bar Association President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi told journalists that hundreds of armed men attacked the KBA bar room, took away the CCTV cameras worth Rs200,000 and smashed the windowpanes and tried to tamper with the sui gas meter.
He condemned the wall-chalking and display of banners inscribed with objectionable slogans against Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed. He said no good could be expected from the people who had no respect for the judiciary, and were using derogatory language against respectable personalities.
Police held responsible
Mr Qazi held the City Courts police station personnel responsible for what had happened in and around the KBA Bar Room, saying that the police station was situated on the premises of the courts and the police were supposed to safeguard everything there.
If the police were not hand in glove with the ‘robbers’, he said, they would have arrested or at least registered a case against the vandals. Answering a question about the registration of a case, he said it would be decided at a KBA meeting. The registration of a case, however, would be of no use at present because the rulers were responsible for what had happened, he added.
The KBA president said the lawyers believed in dialogue, arguments and logic, but terrorist elements had targeted the peaceful lawyers to intimidate the judges.
Referring to the police violence against lawyers and journalists in the federal capital, he said the lawyers’ movement had baffled the rulers who were resorting to all conceivable illegal measures.
He condemned the arrest of KBA GS Naeem Qureshi and other lawyers and warned that the government could not achieve its goal by targeting the lawyers and journalists to hide its misdeeds.
Court boycott
The protesting lawyers boycotted court proceedings at the City Courts, Malir District Courts and all anti-terrorism courts.
The judges remained present in their chambers but cases could not be processed as the lawyers did not appear in the courts. The police lock-up also remained closed as the undertrial prisoners were also not brought from various prisons to the courts. The stamp vendors and photo-copier operators also kept their businesses closed in solidarity with the lawyers.
The number of lawyers was very small as most of them had left for the Sindh High Court to attend a general body meeting there and to listen to the speech of Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, the lawyers’ presidential candidate.
The police officials and personnel, however, remained present at all the entry points and monitored the lawyers’ movement.
Malir Bar Association President Zahoor Hussein Maher told Dawn that a complete boycott of court proceedings was observed in Malir, and added that the lawyers were bound to follow the strike call given by the Pakistan Bar Council.
He condemned the arrest of KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi, K.K. Javaid Khan and other lawyers and termed it an illegal, illogical action on part of the government, saying that such steps would further aggravate the situation.
He said such actions would not benefit the government and asked the rulers to stop violence against the lawyers and journalists.
A trench in front of house
A ditch has been dug in front of Sindh High Court Bar Association President Abrar Hasan’s residence in Gulshan-i-Iqbal to make it inaccessible by car, the SHCBA chief told a meeting of its members addressed by presidential candidate Wajihuddin Ahmed.
Mr Hasan told the meeting that he had receiving ‘warnings’ for quite a few days. The town municipal administration sent a bulldozer this morning and it cut a trench in front of his house (No B-53, Block 4-A, Gulshan-i-Iqbal). Fortunately, he had already driven his car out of the house for proceeding to the high court. A truck came soon afterwards and took away the dug-up earth and rubbish, perhaps to prevent early refilling and leveling. He said no pressure tactics would work and he would remain steadfast in his role at the head of the SHCBA campaign.