GUJRAT: Scores of the Gujranwala District Bar Association members on Monday staged a protest demonstration in front of the city police officer’s (CPO) office against shooting of a lawyer, who is in critical condition at a hospital in Lahore, demanding early arrest of the attackers.

A couple of days ago, both legs of a lawyer, Adil Azam, were seriously injured in firing allegedly by three nominated suspects led by Ijaz alias Jajji, near the railway track.

Later, the doctors had to amputate one of the legs of the injured lawyer, who was on dialysis. He had to undergo another surgery at the Jinnah Hospital in Lahore on Monday.

The local lawyers observed a complete boycott of the courts and took out a protest rally, starting from the district courts and culminating at the CPO office, where they chanted slogans against the police’s failure to arrest the suspects.

Gujranwala SSP operations Dr Raza Tanveer Sipra held negotiations with the representatives of the protesting lawyers.

The SSP told them that one of the three nominated suspects had already been arrested and the remaining would also be traced and nabbed soon as raids were being conducted for their arrest.

One of the protesting lawyers told Dawn that the police had sought two days to arrest the prime suspect Ijaz, who had been a notorious goon of the area and was allegedly involved in various heinous crimes.

He said that after the SSP gave assurance regarding the arrest of the attackers, the lawyers dispersed peacefully.

A spokesman for Gujranwala police said that a case has been registered against the three nominated and two unidentified suspects under sections 324, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.

A police official says that the injured lawyer had got a piece of railway’s land on lease near GDA Plaza near Gondlanwala railway crossing, that was a bone of contention between the suspects and the injured lawyer.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2024