Lawyers boycott LHC CJ’s committee’s meeting

LAHORE: Members of the Lahore Bar Association lawyers on Wednesday boycotted a meeting of the five-member committee formed by Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, the Lahore High Court Chief Justice, to put an end to the ongoing hostility between the bar and the bench.

Shakeel Gondal, the Lahore bar secretary, said that they do not acknowledge the committee formed by the CJ and have formed their own committee to discuss the issue and propose a future course of action.

The lawyers continued their boycott of the courts on Wednesday against the non-implementation of their demand for the removal of Zawar Ahmed Sheikh, the Lahore district and sessions judge.

Most of the cases scheduled for the day were postponed as the lawyers refused to appear in courts after 10:30am causing inconvenience to the litigants.

The Lahore bar committee was constituted on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting presided over by Sajid Bashir Shaikh, the Lahore bar president.

Besides Zulfiqar Haider, the Lahore bar vice-president, and Shakeel Gondal, the general secretary, the 18-member committee included 16 Lahore-based members of the Punjab Bar Council.

The Lahore bar has locked out the sessions judge for 16 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2010.