Black coats: Lawyers reiterate demand for high court bench

Say they will announce details of a province-wide campaign on Monday

FAISALABAD: Members of the Faisalabad District Bar Association boycotted courts on Thursday and held a demonstration to protest against the Lahore High Court’s decision not to open benches in five divisions of the province.

The DBA’s office bearers announced that the lawyers in all five divisions passed on in the LHC judgement would launch a joint campaign to press for the demand for High Court benches.

“We will take all stake holders – traders, trade unions and the civil society – on board about the protest,” DBA president Chaudhry Qasier Nazir Sahi said. “Further details of this will be announced on Monday.” Sahi led a protest rally up to the City District Government Complex. They held a sit-in at the Zila Council Chowk where Muhammad Hanif Azhar Khan, Chaudhry Talib Chattha and Sahi addressed the protesters.

The lawyers carried banners demanding a High Court bench in Faisalabad. They shouted slogans: “Nahin manzoor, nahin manzoor, High Court full court reference verdict” (we do not accept the full court’s verdict) and “le k rahain ge apna haq” (we won’t stop till we get our rights). The speakers condemned the LHC’s decision, which they said, was against the spirit of the Constitution. They claimed that a lobby of lawyers in Lahore had strong-armed the court into making the decision. “The LHC has deprived thousands of litigants of justice at their doorsteps.”

The speakers announced that they would continue their struggle for the establishment of a division bench. The lawyers of Faisalabad have boycotted the courts in protest since July 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2016.