Lawyers’ strike tomorrow: Transfer of nine Sahiwal judges
LAHORE, June 14: The Punjab Bar Council has announced that lawyers throughout the province will observe complete strike against the en bloc transfer of nine judges from Sahiwal on Saturday (tomorrow).
Council vice-chairman Tariq Javed Waraich and executive committee chairman Arbab Ahmad Syed said in a statement that they would not appear in courts.
They said the lawyers should reach Faisalabad on Saturday to welcome Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and hear his address to the district bar.
They also condemned the large-scale arrests and detentions of political workers and civil society activists in the province and constituted a committee comprising council members Burhan Moazzam Malik, Khurram Latif Khosa, Navid Inayat Malik and Zaman Mangat for pursuing their cases.
SAHIWAL: Lawyers observed a black day on Thursday and boycotted court proceedings to express their solidarity with the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Lawyers Shahid Hussain and former bar secretary-general Ghulam Sabir Virk observed a token hunger strike. A black flag was also hoisted atop the barroom building.
A protest procession, led by DBA president Sheikh Muhammad Usman and secretary-general Mian Islamul Haq, was also taken out.
Addressing the rally, DBA chief and others demanded that warrants for the arrest of policemen involved in May 14 incident in Sahiwal should be issued. At least 29 lawyers had sustained burn wounds when police threw kerosene on a torch-bearing rally.
Lawyers vowed to continue the protest till the arrest of the accused policemen and the independence of judiciary.
They also condemned the government for transferring seven judges.
GUJRANWALA: The district bar association boycotted the courts and took out a torch-bearing rally to express their solidarity with the CJP.
Lawyers, headed by bar president Ilyas Rehan, gathered in the barroom after the boycott of court proceedings and condemned the government for its anti-judiciary policies.
In the evening, lawyers brought out the torch-bearing rally from the district courts which terminated at Gondlanwala Chowk on GT Road. They also shouted slogans against the government.
Lawyers also pledged that their protest movement would continue till the restoration of the CJP. The bar president said that a caravan of lawyers would leave for Faisalabad on June 16 to accord a warm welcome to the CJP.
OKARA: The local district bar association observed a complete strike.
DBA president Malik Maqbool Hussain Shakir and secretary-general Sagheer Chaudhry pledged to continue the strike.