ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday condemned the registration of FIRs against lawyers across the country.

“The act of FIA to summon them for investigation purpose on any pretext in connection with their professional duties is not acceptable to the legal fraternity,” observed Haroonur Rashid, Vice Chairman of the PBC, and Hassan Raza Pasha, chairman of the body’s executive committee, in a joint statement.

Abid S. Zuberi, President of the SCBA, and Muqtedir Akhtar Shabbir, the association’s secretary, also condemned the notice issued by the Federal Investigation Agency to senior counsel Khawaja Harris and Naeem Haider Panjutha in relation to an inquiry over Facebook posts by a trial court judge.

The two are representing former prime minister Imran Khan. They called upon FIA to withdraw “unlawful call-up notices” as they were “illegal and in violation of law and the Constitution”.

The separate statements regretted that advocates should not be linked to any political party as they only perform their professional duties.

The registration of an FIR and investigations against lawyers is “highly condemnable, unjustified, unethical and against the Constitution”, the PBC said.

“Lawyers should not be dragged in any sort of investigation. The registration of criminal cases against them would give every right to bar councils and associations to step forward for protection of their rights and obligations.”

“Otherwise, we have no other option left except to invoke strict action against the authorities.”

The SCBA said in its statement the notices, “seemingly based on frivolous pretexts”, were nothing short of “blatant harassment” and against the independence of the bar and the judiciary.

“Since Khawaja Harris is a respectable member of the bar association, we view such notices as totally illegal and arbitrary,” the SCBA said.

The same goes for Naeem Haider Panjutha, who is also a respectable member of the legal fraternity and was unlawfully detained by FIA for more than eight hours, the statement added.

The SCBA deplored the registration of an FIR by Attock police against Sher Afzal Khan Mawat, a Supreme Court advocate and member of the SCBA.

“This association will fight all illegal actions against lawyers as these tactics are calculated to deter them from representing their clients before various courts.”

Abid Zuberi emphasised that any inquiry without involving Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, from whose Facebook account the alleged posts were shared, would be “inadequate and prejudicial”.

He called upon CJP Umar Ata Bandial to take note of such “arbitrary and discriminatory actions”.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023