South Punjab convention: Lawyers tell Gilani to step down

Peoples Lawyers Forum members expelled from premises ‘for trying to sabotage convention’.

MULTAN:

A resolution was passed by lawyers from four southern divisions in Multan on Monday demanding the prime minister to immediately step down.

The convention arranged by the Multan chapter of the Lahore High Court Bar Association was attended by lawyers from Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal divisions.

Addressing the gathering, Multan chapter president Mehmood Ashraf Khan said Prime Miniter Yousaf Raza Gilani was not eligible to hold the office in view of his conviction in the contempt of court case.

Muhammad Yahya Khan, Lahore High Court Bar Association Bahawalpur chapter president, said the convention was meant to convey a message to the government that lawyers of south Punjab were united in their support for the Supreme Court’s verdict. He said if Gilani refused to step down, lawyers would announce a march towards Islamabad. Khan said the lawyers would besiege the parliament to ensure that the prime minister followed the Apex Court’s verdict.

Several members of the Peoples Lawyers Forum were expelled from the convention after a scuffle between them and other some other lawyers.

PLF Multan chapter president Bushra Naqvi said that four PLF members – Zawar Qureshi, Tariq Saeed, Babar Sukaarno, and Imran Ansar – were injured in the clash. She said they were pushed into the scuffle by lawyers raising slogans against President Asif Ali Zardari. She termed the expulsion of the PLF lawyers uncalled-for, saying that they were equal members of the association.

She rejected the resolution against Gilani and said that the lawyers should refrain from playing politics and let the law take its course.

LHCBA Multan chapter president Mehmood Khan rejected the suggestion that the resolution was a political move. In fact, he said, the PLF was affiliated with a political party and had a political agenda. He said the group should be banned from the bar premises. He said they were expelled from the premises because they were trying to sabotage the convention.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.