Lawyers warn of countrywide protests if PM doesn’t step down

Bar associations make the announcement after their clash with pro-PML-N lawyers at a convention

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Lawyers Representatives Convention warned on Saturday that if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not resign within seven days, the legal fraternity would launch a countrywide movement against him.

The convention was organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) to chalk out a future strategy against Sharif following the Supreme Court’s Panama Papers verdict.

However, it could not take place on its scheduled time as lawyers backed by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by Deputy Attorney General Naseer Bhutta, vandalised the venue. Before the hosts could reach the Javed Iqbal Auditorium of the LHCBA, the pro-PML-N lawyers arrived there and broke inside by shattering the windows of the hall.

They threw around the tables and chairs arranged for the speakers. LHCBA Secretary Amir Saeed Rawn reached the venue and urged them to stop, but they refused to listen to him.

The lawyers who were supporting the organisers of the convention also reached and forced their PML-N-backed colleagues to step down from the hall’s stage.

An exchange of slogan-shouting, in favour of and against the government, ensued for more than two hours.



Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Rasheed Rizvi, the chief guest of the convention, tried several times to read out the resolution but was unable to do so because of the pandemonium.

At around 1 pm, the lawyers left the hall and Rizvi started reading out the resolution. However, the PML-N-backed lawyers returned and disrupted him by shouting pro-government slogans.

Later, the anti-government lawyers staged a rally on Mall Road near GPO Chowk and blocked the road for about half an hour.

By the time the protesting lawyers returned to the bar from the road, the pro-PML-N lawyers had left. Taking advantage of this, the bar lawyers started the proceedings of the convention. The representatives of the legal fraternity from across the country delivered their speeches and resolved to continue their movement until the prime minister stepped down.

Rizvi read out the resolution before the lawyers which was approved unanimously.

The resolution read: “A comprehensive campaign be lodged for the accountability of all public officials who have indulged in financial improprieties and corruption through off shore companies or otherwise. It further demanded that Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif should immediately resign from his office to facilitate fir and independent enquiry against him by the JIT. In case he fails to resign within next seven days, the lawyers throughout Pakistan will launch a nationwide campaign and movement to ensure his resignation.”

It further stated that all bar associations would hoist black flags and set up protest camps within their premises on Thursday during the holy month of Ramazan.

The lawyers demanded the removal of the NAB chairman and the FIA director general from their posts in view of the apex court judgement.

A national action committee was formed, headed by Rizvi, and including the secretary of the SCBA and LHCBA, which will announce the strategy in connection with the lawyers’ movement.

Through the resolution, the convention condemned the hooliganism committed by pro-PML-N lawyers and the damage they had caused to the property and assets of the association.

They said the attack was similar to the one on the Supreme Court building in November 1997 by the PML-N.

The participants of the convention were of the view that the attack was carried out at the behest of the attorney general, the advocate general Punjab and the prosecutor general Punjab and demanded their resignations. They pointed out that the pro-government lawyers had also broken the lock of the LHCBA library.