Karachi: Sindh High Court Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association on Monday announced to observe complete strike on Tuesday during which lawyers would stay away from court proceeding and will not appear in any court against what they said torture against lawyers at the Lahore High Court.
It is to be mentioned here that on Monday police fired tear gas and water cannons on protesting lawyers gathered at the Lahore High Court, where contempt of court proceedings were underway against Sher Zaman Qureshi, the president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s (LHCBA) Multan chapter. The lawyers resorted to violence after the court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Qureshi, besides suspending his license along with the licence of another lawyer Syed Qaiser Abbas Kazmi.
This led to outpouring of condemnations from legal fraternity across the country.
A meeting of SHCBA chaired by its President Shahab Sarki was held at SHCBA office. The meeting strongly condemned what it said torture and violence on lawyers in Lahore. The SHCBA body announced to observe complete strike on Tuesday against the Lahore incident.
Secretary SHCBA Kashif Paracha told Daily Times that lawyers would not appear before courts as a mark of solidarity with Lahore lawyers.
He said that SHCBA would hold a general body meeting on Tuesday which would decide future course of action. He added that SHC administration was intimated about the lawyers’ strike and boycott of court proceedings.
Meanwhile, Karachi Bar Association also announced to observe strike against on Tuesday against what it said highhandedness with lawyers in Lahore and Multan. President KBA Naeem Quraishi said that the treatment meted out of lawyers in Multan and Lahore was condemnable. He added that lawyers would observe strike and stay away from courts proceeding on Tuesday. He announced said that a general body meeting of KBA will be held at Shuhada-e-Punjab Hall of the Association at 11:00 am.’
It is to be mentioned here that LHCBA Multan bench president Qureshi had misbehaved with Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan in Multan during court proceedings last month.
LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had taken strong notice of the lawyers’ misbehavior and constituted a committee to probe the matter.
Published in Daily Times, August 22nd 2017.
