Against lawyers: Many court employees pull out of protest

Say they do not want agitation in the workplace, issues should resolve peacefully

LAHORE: Lawyers’ scuffle with a court employee took a new turn as court staff divided over the matter. Some of them wanted to support the victim, while the rest did not want to confront the lawyers.

Earlier, court employee Faisal was thrashed by Advocate Malik Imran for not knowing the whereabouts of Judge Usman Majeed which resulted in a scuffle between the two. To protest against the misconduct of the lawyer, court workers boycotted work for several hours.

After the incident, court employees staged a protest at district courts and then marched towards the Lahore High Court. The court employees then met with LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah who assured to address their grievances. The employees had demanded an FIR registration against lawyers as well as suspension of their licences.

During the time, Faisal’s brothers and some relatives stood by him and demanded strict action against the lawyers who thrashed him.

But this time court employees, who were earlier united, decided to withdraw their protests against the lawyers. Employees mostly belonging to district and session and civil courts decided not to support Faisal and continued judicial work.

Several employees told The Express Tribune they did not want agitation at their workplace. They were of the view that the issue of their colleague Faisal should be resolved peacefully. They said they wanted a permanent solution of the problem rather than staging protests.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.