SAHIWAL, Sept 15: Members of the district bar association were on strike from Sept 10 to 14 to press for withdrawal of a dacoity case against a fellow lawyer.

The dacoity was committed on the night between January 13 and 14, 2001, when six armed men stormed into the house of one Mohammad Afzal in Chak 63/4-R. Cash, foreign currency, two motorcycles and other valuables worth Rs800,000 were looted. Noor Shah police registered the case. The CIA police arrested Allah Yar of Tukra-25, Said Ahmed Kathia of Mirdad Muaafi and Constable Mohammad Saleem of Farid Town Police Station in this connection. Valuables worth Rs400,000 were recovered from the possession of accused.

During the course of investigations, the accused disclosed that they had committed dacoity at the behest of Mohammad Yousaf of Tukra-25, Rao Iqbal of Nalka farm and a junior advocate, Mujahid Waseem, who worked with Advocate Ejaz Ahmed Saghla.

On January 18 this year, the police arrested Advocate Mujahid Waseem, who told investigators that Advocate Riaz Ahmed Saghla was also involved besides Mohammad Yousaf and Rao Mohammad Iqbal. All three were declared proclaimed offenders by a local judicial magistrate.

Junior Advocate Mujahid Waseem was later granted bail by the high court. The three men arrested in the first instance have been in Central Jail since July 2, 2001.

The Sahiwal lawyers went on strike to force the police and others into withdrawing the case against Advocate Saghla.

Raja Mahmood Akhtar Kiani, the convener of Sahiwal Public Forum, has condemned the strike, saying that lawyers should have adopted the legal course to get their problems redressed.

Meanwhile, lawyers of Chichawatni sub-division also went on strike from Sept 12 to 14 to protest another case, which was investigated by ASP Amin Masood, who acquitted an accused, local grain market trader Ejaz, of all charges during the course of investigation. They have vowed to continue the strike till the ASP’s transfer.