BAHAWALPUR, Oct 11: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday cancelled the licences of seven members of the Bahawalpur bar.

Bahawalpur bar secretary Umair Mohsin said the licences of the seven lawyers were cancelled on the appeal of bar president Malik Muhammad Aslam Channar.

Channar said the lawyers, including vice president Muhammad Amir, illegally held a general body meeting and showed him the door.

Bar dissidents held a general body meeting, with Amir in the chair, and showed Channar the door for “violating the bar mandate by inviting Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar to the Bahawalpur bar”. The meeting also declared Amir as the new bar president.

The lawyers whose licences have been cancelled are Amir, Kausar Bhatti, Mian Faizul Hassan, Hafiz Muhammad Rashid, Bilal Bhatti, Arshad Khakwani and Naveed Khalil.

The secretary said the chairman of the PBC’s appellant tribunal had also suspended proceedings of the disputed general body meeting.