Rehman’s election revives Professional Group
The panel has won the bar top slot after five years
Supporters pose with the Bhoon Group’s candidate for the office of the president. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS
LAHORE:
The victory of Rana Zia Abdul Rehman in Saturday’s Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) elections heralds the revival of Professional Group led by Hamid Khan.
The Professional Group has secured the presidential slot after five years.
Earlier, candidates from Ahsan Bhoon Group, including Pir Masood Chishti, Shafqat Mahmood Chauhan, Abid Saqi and Shehram Sarwar, had been elected bar presidents.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Syed Ali Zafar is also from Bhoon Group.
The Lahore Bar Association president, too, had the group’s support. The panel also has a majority in the Punjab Bar Council and the Pakistan Bar Council.
Bar pundits are of the view that the outcome of LHCBA elections will have an impact on elections of other bar associations.
During and before the lawyers’ movement for the reinstatement of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as chief justice of Pakistan, the Professional Group had led the bar bodies across the country.
Its candidates for the LHCBA and the SCBA had been elected unopposed during the movement. Ali Ahmed Kurd and Aitezaz Ahsan were then its candidates for SCBA president.
Bhoon Group’s Asma Jahangir was elected SCBA president in 2010. At that time, all superior court judges, who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, had joined hands against the Professional Group.
Rehman, the newly elected LCHBA president, has had a long association with the Professional Group. He had been elected Lahore Bar Association president during the lawyers’ movement.
He secured 4,279 votes on Saturday to defeat Ramazan Chaudhry who bagged 3,795 votes.
The LHCBA election board would re-examine the voting process on Monday after Chaudhry expressed reservations about it.
Sardar Tahir Shahbaz was elected vice president. He bagged 2,065 votes.
Chaudhry Muhammad Saleem was the runner-up with 1,501 votes.
Other candidates for vice president were Sheikh Sakhawat (1,113 votes), MR Awan (1,327), Rashid Lodhi (1,362) and Mian Waseem (668).
Bhoon Group’s Anas Ghazi has been elected secretary, securing 3,912 votes. He has defeated Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh, the son of Advocate Akram Sheikh.
Lawyer’s Wings of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had supported Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh. PLF Lawyers’ Forum had supported Ghazi.
Syed Asad Bukhari has been elected finance secretary. He bagged 3,721 votes against 2,547 votes secured by his main rival Deeba Khan. Muhammad Zeeshan Aamir secured 1,758 votes.
No woman has been elected this year unlike previous years when a woman would have the seat of finance secretary.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 29th, 2016.
The victory of Rana Zia Abdul Rehman in Saturday’s Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) elections heralds the revival of Professional Group led by Hamid Khan.
The Professional Group has secured the presidential slot after five years.
Earlier, candidates from Ahsan Bhoon Group, including Pir Masood Chishti, Shafqat Mahmood Chauhan, Abid Saqi and Shehram Sarwar, had been elected bar presidents.
Supreme Court Bar Association President Syed Ali Zafar is also from Bhoon Group.
The Lahore Bar Association president, too, had the group’s support. The panel also has a majority in the Punjab Bar Council and the Pakistan Bar Council.
Bar pundits are of the view that the outcome of LHCBA elections will have an impact on elections of other bar associations.
During and before the lawyers’ movement for the reinstatement of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as chief justice of Pakistan, the Professional Group had led the bar bodies across the country.
Its candidates for the LHCBA and the SCBA had been elected unopposed during the movement. Ali Ahmed Kurd and Aitezaz Ahsan were then its candidates for SCBA president.
Bhoon Group’s Asma Jahangir was elected SCBA president in 2010. At that time, all superior court judges, who had taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order, had joined hands against the Professional Group.
Rehman, the newly elected LCHBA president, has had a long association with the Professional Group. He had been elected Lahore Bar Association president during the lawyers’ movement.
He secured 4,279 votes on Saturday to defeat Ramazan Chaudhry who bagged 3,795 votes.
The LHCBA election board would re-examine the voting process on Monday after Chaudhry expressed reservations about it.
Sardar Tahir Shahbaz was elected vice president. He bagged 2,065 votes.
Chaudhry Muhammad Saleem was the runner-up with 1,501 votes.
Other candidates for vice president were Sheikh Sakhawat (1,113 votes), MR Awan (1,327), Rashid Lodhi (1,362) and Mian Waseem (668).
Bhoon Group’s Anas Ghazi has been elected secretary, securing 3,912 votes. He has defeated Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh, the son of Advocate Akram Sheikh.
Lawyer’s Wings of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had supported Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh. PLF Lawyers’ Forum had supported Ghazi.
Syed Asad Bukhari has been elected finance secretary. He bagged 3,721 votes against 2,547 votes secured by his main rival Deeba Khan. Muhammad Zeeshan Aamir secured 1,758 votes.
No woman has been elected this year unlike previous years when a woman would have the seat of finance secretary.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 29th, 2016.