New resolve: ‘Lawyers will oppose military courts till the end’

LAHORE: Pir Masood Chishti, newly elected president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, said the legal fraternity would never accept military courts. He was speaking at a ceremony held on Monday to welcome the LHCBA’s newly elected cabinet.

Chishti said the bar would continue to defend its petition against military courts, filed before the Supreme Court. He said heads of institutions were responsible for strengthening their respective organisations therefore the government and the chief justice of Pakistan should address the shortcomings of their institutions and strengthen them. Chishti said the lawyers would play an active role in strengthening the judiciary and democracy but would never accept military courts. LHCBA secretary Ahmad Qayyum and other office bearers were also present on the occasion. The outgoing cabinet had arranged the ceremony to welcome their successors. Separately, the Pakistan Bar Council announced on Monday that it would observe March 3 (today) as a day of mourning as a protest against the government’s failure in arresting perpetrators of a terrorist attack at the Islamabad district courts last year. In a statement, the bar’s vice chairman Azam Nazir Tarar lamented the government’s failure to catch the culprits or take stringent measures to secure the court premises.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2015.