ISLAMABAD: “I am thinking of winding up my chamber at the Islamabad district courts and planning to switch to some other profession,” says advocate Chaudhry Khalid Hussain.

A friend of Rafaqat Ahmed Khan Awan, the additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ), who was killed during the Monday terrorist attack, Hussain still feels himself insecure and is talking about leaving the legal practice after about one-and-a-half decades.

Initially, he was an associate of Rafaqat Awan when the latter was also a practising lawyer. Awan joined the Islamabad Judicial Service as an ADSJ in 2012.

“Last night, my mother phoned me from my native town Multan and asked me to come back,” said Hussain. Her worries were genuine as the life of an ordinary lawyer is not secure in the highly insecure courts of the federal capital.

He said after attending the funeral of the slain ADSJ Awan, a number of young lawyers were talking about the insecurity in the legal profession.

“The profession is neither profitable nor remains prestigious or secure and has lost its charm after consecutive attacks on the lawyers,” he added.

Umer Hanif, another young lawyer, also seemed reluctant in appearing in the district courts because of the sense of insecurity there.

“Why one should put his life in danger if he can earn bread and butter more conveniently and through a safe profession,” he said.

Hanif offered condolence to some of the families of the slain lawyers but instead of going to the district courts remained in his house.

On the other hand, senior lawyers admitted depression among their junior colleagues but foresaw a bright future for the youth.

Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry, the vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, said: “We can understand the problems behind the disheartenment of the young lawyers but we are also taking certain steps to boost their morale.”

According to him, it was not the Monday incident alone that demoralised the young lawyers. “There are also other factors, including the false hope attached to the so-called judicial activism.”

He said after restoration of the judges in 2009, the lawyers had pinned high hopes in the judicial system but their dreams did not come true.

“We have planned capacity building programmes for the young lawyers which would enable them to excel in the profession besides facilitating them in bringing a positive change in society,” he added.

The district courts premises, which usually remained packed with people, presented a deserted look on Tuesday. Though the administration had cleared some of the mess left behind by the terror attacks before Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi visited the premises, there were still shattered glasses in most parts of the area.

The lawyers preferred staying at home and only a handful of them, including the Islamabad Bar President Naseer Kayani, turned up at the district courts as they wanted to arrange a reference for the victims of the terrorist incident at the hall of the bar. After seeing the destruction in the hall, however the bar decided to hold the reference in the IHC building.

Strike observed

The lawyers’ bodies in the twin cities observed a strike over the terrorist attack on the district courts in which 11 persons including an additional district and sessions judge were killed on Monday.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Association and the District Bar Association of Islamabad announced three days’ mourning and decided to boycott the court proceedings till March 9.

The lawyers in Rawalpindi also observed a strike at the district courts and Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench to express solidarity with those who were killed in the attack on the Islamabad district courts.