LAHORE, Nov 19: The Home Department issued orders detaining 13 lawyers under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order after they were released on bail on Monday.
Advocate Aftab Bajwa said the authorities could not issue their detention orders because an anti-terrorism court had granted them bail.
Those detained afresh include: LHCBA secretary Sarfraz Cheema, Ramzan Chaudhry, Azhar Siddique, Latif Sara, Mian Qaddus, Zaman Mangat, Nadim Qadir and Abdur Rasheed Qureshi.
Earlier, Anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Shabbir Hussain Chattah granted bail to 41 lawyers arrested on Nov 5 from the Lahore High Court while protesting the imposition of emergency rule in the country.
Lahore High Court Bar Association president Ahsan Bhoon, released from Kot Lakhpat Jail on Sunday, also argued before the court, along with Aftab Ahmad Bajwa advocate.
Bajwa said out of around 500 lawyers, the prosecution had opposed bail to active members of the bar associations. He added since the LHCBA president had been released, the remaining lawyers still languishing behind bars should also be given bail.
The state counsel requested adjournment of the case as the record was not available.
The judge refused to grant more time to the state counsel and ordered lawyers’ release.
The court ordered release of Pakistan Bar Council member Ramzan Chaudhry, LHCBA secretary Sarfraz Ahmad Cheema, SCBA media advisor Muhammad Azhar Siddiq, LHCBA former president Pir Kaleem Khurshid, Iftikhar Iqbal and others on furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs20,000 each.
Since October 5, when hundreds of lawyers were arrested, the court had granted bail to more than 350 lawyers. Old Anarkali police had registered a cases against 459 lawyers under 16 MPO, section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act and Sections 290/291, 186/188, 147/148, 427/440, 353/324 of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of SHO Zaheer-ud-Din Babar Awan.
MEETING CONTROVERSY: Any meeting of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) called without any schedule to discuss “the boycott of courts” will damage the lawyers’ movement, says LHCBA Vice President Firdous Butt.
Ms Butt said this when asked to comment on reports that LHCBA President Ahsan Bhoon, after his release from Kot Lakhpat Jail, may hold a meeting of the LHCBA members. The LHCBA president could not be contacted.
Mr Bhoon says he will hold a meeting after the release of the LHCBA secretary Sarfraz Cheema, arrested since Nov 5.
“We have no intimation of the meeting,” said Ms Butt.
“If Bhoon holds an emergent meeting, I can’t say anything about it. It will be unfortunate if some lawyers meet without intimating the whole house, and decide anything against boycott unilaterally.”
Talking to Dawn, Anwar Kamal said there was no justification of ending the boycott of judges, who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). He said a decision by a group of lawyers on appearing before the judges would be against the guidelines of the Pakistan Bar Council and the Punjab Bar Council. Both bars have asked lawyers not to appear before the judges working under the PCO.
Mr Kamal said bars had appealed to litigants to be patient in the larger interest of the country. He said lawyers believed the judges working under the PCO could not deliver justice to anyone.
He said a fund set up for lawyers would start disbursing money to them from Tuesday (today). He said the dismissal of cases by judges in the wake of lawyers’ boycott would not stand when the “real” judges replaced them.
Advocate A. K. Dogar said instead of creating controversies, bar office-bearers should focus on release of lawyers, who were languishing in jails or lock-ups despite the orders of their release on bail.—Reporter