PESHAWAR: The lawyers called off their 12 days long strike on Tuesday after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government suspended additional assistant commissioner of Peshawar Aftab Ahmad, whose orders led to the arrest of a senior legal practitioner and thus, causing a standoff between the legal community and civil servants.

The government employees, too, announced an end to their symbolic strike in offices claiming that the government had accepted all their demands, while the case registered against the AAC on the order of a local court for ‘torturing’ lawyer Syed Ghufranullah Shah would be withdrawn.

They also insisted that the licences of the legal practitioners, who attacked the office of Peshawar deputy commissioner during a demonstration, would be suspended.

Amid a strike in Peshawar and adjoining districts, the lawyers staged a sit-in near the provincial assembly’s building at the Rehman Baba Square disrupting traffic for many hours on Khyber Road, Sher Shah Suri Road and GT Road.

Civil servants also end protest claiming their demands accepted

The sit-in was attended by members of the KP Bar Council (KPBC), leaders of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA), including president Rehmanullah Khan, vice-president Ayesha Malik, general secretary Farooq Afridi and press secretary Babar Hayat, and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) president Ali Zaman and other cabinet members.

They later celebrated the suspension of the AAC by dancing to the beat of drums on the high court’s premises.

The KPBC, PHCBA and PDBA issued separate statements announcing the end of their strike.

In a statement, KPBC vice-chairman Mohammad Ali Khan Jadoon and its executive committee chairman, Mohammad Ilyas Khan, congratulated all members for the acceptance of their major demand about the suspension of the AAC and announced the cancellation of the general body meeting scheduled for today (Wednesday).

The PHCBA, in a release, said the lawyers’ movement would continue and their demand for the arrest of the AAC and a judicial inquiry into the matter would be pursued through the proper course of law.

On the other hand, a joint statement was issued by the Provincial Management Services (PMS), Provincial Civil Services (PCS) and Pakistan Administrative Services along with the Secretariat Coordination Council appreciated the response of provincial Government whereby they have agreed for providing legal-cum-administrative mechanism for civil servants during the performance of their official duties.

“The same include, inter alia, conferring the administrative functions of Justice for Peace under 22- A of the Code of Criminal Procedure on all commissioners, DCs and ACs, no FIR on civil servants unless prior approval accorded by the chief secretary, operationalise the Civil Administration Act and notifying a dedicated district regulatory force for districts in KP,” the statement read.

The civil servants claimed that the government assured them that the issues would be duly notified in the shortest possible time, while the relevant associations would be kept posted on the developments.

They said as for suspension of the AAC, it was a legal requirement since an FIR had already been filed besides a transit bail which necessitated such an administrative action merely to clarify the situation.

The civil servants said the AAC would not be going to the court and the case was to be withdrawn accordingly.

Their organisations said they would protect the writ of the state and wouldn’t allow anyone to disrupt the law and order.

They also said civil servants were neutral and obeyed the orders of the executive in a prescribed manner and not an irrational mob.

The issue between lawyers and civil servants began after FIR registration against and arrest of lawyer Ghufranullah, who was accused by AAC Aftab Ahmad of stopping him from performing his duty at a filling station on June 2.

In the FIR, the AAC insisted that he went to a filling station on the GT Road to look into the complaints about ‘hindrance to fuel supply to motorists’ and as he was busy with his official duty, Ghufranullah, who was also present there, began hurling threats at him and his police guards before attacking them and trying to snatch their weapons.

An FIR was also registered against the AAC and police constables Ilyas and Ahmad Shah on June 4 after a local court accepted a petition of the lawyer, who had charged them for torturing him and keeping him in illegal confinement.

Similarly, another FIR was registered against some lawyers on complaint of the district administration accusing the lawyers of attacking the office of the deputy commissioner during a demonstration on June 4.

Initially, the lawyers observed strike across the province for three days, but subsequently it was reduced to PHC Principal Seat at Peshawar and its attached districts. However, on Tuesday the KPBC again observed strike throughout the province.

Published in Dawn,June 15th, 2022