Battle lines drawn : Supreme Court bar goes to polls

ISLAMABAD: The annual election of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will be held today (Friday) with the main contest between the supporters of the present political system and those who claim themselves to be the forces of change. There are two candidates in the run for the president of the association, Fazale Haq Abbasi and Abdul Sattar Khan. They both belong to K-P. Abbasi has the backing of Asma Jahangir led Independent Group that believes in the continuity of the present democratic system. Abbasi also enjoys support of PML-N and PPP and their supporters in the legal fraternity. Sattar Khan has been fielded by Professional Group headed by Hamid Khan, the vice president of PTI. Though this group has lost presidential election of SCBA four times continuously, it was hopeful to bag the top slot this year. Lawyers of Hamid Khan’s group were levelling allegations of financial irregularities in the project of Lawyers Judicial Complex built during the tenure of Independent Group.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2014.