LAHORE: The lower Mall area of Lahore saw pitched battles between lawyers and police on Saturday as the bar intensified its campaign for the transfer of a district and sessions judge.
The Lahore Bar Association, in a move highlighting the bitterness, barred the entry into its premises of the chief justice of the Lahore High Court, a number of other judges and some prominent lawyers it accused of playing a “dirty role” during the standoff.
The LBA’s move against leading figures of the movement in 2007-08 for reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry came at a general house meting.
Its president, Sajid Bashir, said the bar had decided to ban the entry into its premises of SCBA president Qazi Anwar, former president Aitzaz Ahsan, Hamid Khan, Ahmad Awais, Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal and Athar Minallah.
The bar also cancelled the membership of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, LHC Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif, his two sons Khwaja Latif and Khwaja Bilal and son-in-law Azhar Hameed. Their entry to the bar was also banned.
On their part, the judges on the bench vowed not to surrender to the bar and offered to resign in support of their colleague, Zawwar A. Sheikh, whose transfer the lawyers have been demanding.
In Multan, 23 civil judges submitted their resignations to the District and Sessions Judge on Saturday in protest against “violent and insulting behaviour” of lawyers and to show solidarity with the LHC chief justice.
STRIKE
Judges of the district judiciary observed a strike and did not hold courts. They condemned the lawyers’ action and expressed solidarity with District and Sessions Judge Zawwar Ahmad Sheikh. The judges vowed to continue the strike till the return of D&SJ and criticised a decision to send him on a week-long leave.
At a meeting held in the office of a senior civil judge, the judicial officers said they had no personal grudge against the legal fraternity, adding that Zawwar Sheikh was an honest and dedicated judge and they should not be deprived of such an upright man.
POLICE ACTION
Police resorted to teargas shelling and fired into the air to disperse protesting lawyers at PMG Chowk, Lower Mall. The lawyers retaliated by pelting police personnel with stones, damaged their vehicles and also beat media personnel.
The LHC registrar held talks with the judges, but they refused to back down, coming up with an announcement that they would announce a “further line of action” on Monday.
LBA president Sajid Bashir and other leaders, who were released on Thursday night, held a general house meeting to condemn the police action and criticise the LHC chief justice for not transferring the sessions judge.
After the meeting, they came out of Aiwan-i-Adl and started marching towards PMG Chowk. They raised slogans against the LHC chief justice and the sessions judge. DIG (operations) Rao Sardar Ali Khan tried in vain to convince the bar leaders not to violate section 144.
When lawyers refused to abide by section 144 and continued their march, police resorted to aerial firing and teargas shelling. Lawyers hurled stones on police and also abused them. Some lawyers also suffered injuries in clash with police.
The lawyers compelled police personnel to move back by massive stone-pelting. They occupied the PMG Chowk and police went inside Nasir Bagh, about 100 yards away from the chowk.
Members of the Punjab Bar Council also joined their colleagues and continued their protest for half an hour. Police stayed away from lawyers as it appeared that they had no order to arrest them.
When lawyers were going back to Aiwan-i-Adl, some of them abused cameramen of private news channels, thrashed them and snatched their cameras. They accused the media of supporting the LHC chief justice and the provincial administration.
Journalists stopped the coverage and staged a sit-in in Lower Mall against lawyers’ highhandedness. Later, leaders from both sides reconciled the matter.
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