Focal person: Minority group challenges PBC appointment

Application moved by Professional group member Shoaib Shaheen

ISLAMABAD: Tensions surged between lawyers’ groups led by Asma Jahangir and Hamid Khan after the latter approached the Supreme Court on Wednesday, challenging the appointment of Kamran Murtaza as spokesperson of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC).

After quitting Hamid Khan’s group two PBC members – Abdul Fayyaz and Raheel Kamran Sheikh – joined the Asma Jehangir-led Democratic group, creating a majority in the apex body of lawyers.

In September, they reconstituted 21 committees of the PBC.

Subsequently, the Hamid Khan-led group challenged the reconstitution of the committees and secured a restraining order from the superior court, barring them from functioning.



On November 5, the Asma-led majority group appointed Kamran Murtaza as the spokesperson of PBC and empowered him to present the council’s point of view, especially in the Panama leaks case.

The same group, which has 13 members, also demanded that PBC vice-chairman Dr Farogh Nasim tender his resignation because of his affiliation with the minority group.

On Wednesday, a day before the three-judge bench resumes the hearing of the bar’s dispute on Thursday, the Hamid Khan-led minority group, comprising 10 members, moved an application requesting the apex court to suspend decisions made by the majority-led PBC in its last meeting.



The application was moved by a member of the Professional group, Shoaib Shaheen, in which it is stated that the top court while hearing the main case on October 25 only allowed the PBC to hold meetings and conduct routine work, but the majority group not only violated the court order but also contradicted the provisions of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act of 1973 by summoning a meeting and making the above stated decisions.

In accordance with the PBC Appeal Rules, 1986, it is made clear that the term of every appellate committee shall be the same as that of the bar council itself, which is five years.

He contended that following the rules, Appellate Committee decisions shall be deemed as PBC decisions. He contended that the PBC chairman had postponed the October 29th meeting until after a ruling in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2016.