ISLAMABAD: The Independent Group, commonly known as the Asma Group, is likely to sweep the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) elections in Punjab and it may also gain a comfortable majority in the 23-member council for the next five-year term. The elections will be held on Thursday (today).

The rival of the Independent Group in the elections as usual is the Professional Group, or the Hamid Khan Group.

Punjab enjoys a majority chunk of 11 seats in the 23-member council, whereas Sindh has six, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa four and Balochistan and Islamabad one seat each.

Being the apex body of lawyers, the PBC is a statutory organisation responsible for safeguarding rights, interests and privileges of practising lawyers, regulating their conduct and helping in the administration of justice.

Its composition, powers and functions are described in detail by the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, which assigns an important role to the bar council in promoting legal education and providing free legal aid to the deserving people.

The bar council also helps promote knowledge about legal issues/problems by holding lectures, seminars and conferences, besides playing an active role and contributing much to the political situation in the country.

Being the mother institution of lawyers, the PBC always voices its concerns on important national issues, like rule of the law, strengthening of democratic norms in the country and ensuring independence of judiciary, besides acting as a forerunner in different campaigns and political struggles in the country.

Senior lawyers with deep knowledge of internal politics of the council believe that though personal relationships and interactions matter more in the PBC elections than party politics, out of the 11 seats in Punjab, the Independent Group may get eight to nine seats comfortably, whereas in Sindh they may clinch another three crucial seats.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the group is expected to get two to three seats more. Already Haroon ur Rashid, who also hails from the Independent Group, has been elected unopposed for the sole seat reserved for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) as a member of the PBC for the term 2020-25.

The Independent Group, which needs 12 seats to win majority, may have a comfortable position with 13 seats, says the senior lawyers.

On Dec 24, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan, who is the Returning Officer for PBC elections, issued a notification declaring that Mr Haroon ur Rashid had been elected unopposed under Rule 36A of the Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Council’s Rules, 1976.

Soon after the announcement of official election results on Jan 5, 2021, the new body of lawyers will meet to elect its new vice chairman as well as the chairman of executive committee to run affairs of the prestigious body for one-year term, after which a new vice chairman will be elected for the next one year and vice versa.

Initially, 61 candidates submitted their nomination papers from across the country for the elections. Of these 61 candidates, four candidates filed their papers for a single seat of Balochistan, 14 candidates for four seats of KP, 28 candidates for 11 seats of Punjab and 14 candidates for six seats of Sindh.

After the scrutiny, the four members from Balochistan were declared successful to contest the elections. They are: Munir Ahmad Khan Kakar, Sanaullah Ababaki, Kamran Murtaza and Naseer Ahmad Bangalzai.

From KP, 11 candidates are in the run. They are: Tahir Faraz Abbasi, Syed Amjad Shah, Muhammad Faheem Wali, Muhammad Tariq Afridi, Ghulam Mohy-ud-Din Malik, Khalid Mehmood, Noor Alam Khan, Saleemullah Khan Ranazai, Muzammil Khan, Naveed Akhtar and Khushdil Khan.

From Punjab, 20 candidates are contesting elections. They are: Abid Saqi, Asrar-ul-Haq, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Chaudhry Daoud Ahmad Wains, Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Chaudhry Tahir Nasrullah Warraich, Hafeez ur Rehman Chaudhry, Hafiz Ansar ul Haq, Hassan Raza Pasha, Khadim Hussain Qaiser, Mahmood Ashraf Khan, Malik Haider Usman, Mirza Anis Akbar Baig, Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon, Muhammad Maqsood Buttar, Muhammad Masood Chishti, Nazir Ahmad Ghazi, Pervaiz Inayat Malik, Qamar uz Zaman Butt and Rana Zia Abdul Rehman.

From Sindh, 12 candidates are contesting elections. They are: Riazat Ali Sahar, Muhammad Yaseen Azad, Shahadat Awan, Ghulam Shabbeer Shar, Akhtar Hussain, Muhammad Yousuf Laghari, Abid Shahid Zuberi, Muhammad Aqil, Abdur Rehman Farooq Pirzada, Farooq Hamid Naek, Abdul Jabbar Qureshi and Obedullah Malano.

Since the candidate from Islamabad has been declared elected unopposed, elections will only be held in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar. The voting time is from 9am to 4pm.

The respective advocates general for the provinces will supervise the polls in provincial capitals.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2020