Two officials of the elite force landed in police station after a fracas with lawyers on Monday. The Margalla Police booked Nasimullah and Zahiruddin, officials of the Gilgit-Baltistan police deputed with the security detail of G-B Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah, under sections 324 and 506/2, after they allegedly opened fire in the air to disperse angry lawyers near the district courts in F-8.
According to witnesses the clash erupted over the blockage of Kaghan Road near F-8 Markaz. A Margalla police official requesting anonymity said that Advocate Kazim Jamil’s car hit a taxicab while coming to the district courts in F-8, after which the lawyer and his associates began thrashing the cab driver, during which the road was blocked.
The elite force personnel who were stuck up in the traffic mess behind the roadblock with other commuters urged the lawyers to leave the poor driver and get the road cleared for traffic.
Upon their intervention, two lawyers approached them and tried to snatch the police commandos’ firearms, in response to which the two cops fired gunshots in the air, creating a panic, the official said.
On the other hand, lawyers claimed that the elite force officials opened fire straight at them. Talking to The Express Tribune, District Court Bar Association Secretary General Arbab Gujar alleged that they “opened fire at our fellows including Zafar Khokhar, and Shahid Akbar”.
“I was surprised to learn that the elite force officials openly fired on my colleagues. Luckily they are safe, but nobody is allowed to take law into their own hands,” he added.
After the incident, hundreds of lawyers assembled outside the Margalla Police Station and created a scene as they demanded registration of a case against them. Initially the police were reluctant to register an FIR, but due to the immense pressure placed on them by the enraged lawyers, an FIR was lodged.
The two commandos had not been formally arrested when this report was filed, with a police source saying that a counter-FIR may be filed against the lawyers for trying to snatch the police weapons. The policeman also said that no bullets were recovered from any of the nearby walls, suggesting that the guns were not fired at a person, but in the air to disperse the mob.
Meanwhile, lawyers called a strike at the district courts and Islamabad High Court for the rest of the day.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2012.
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Now these are lawyer are becoming another problem for our troubled country.