LBA remains divided over movement against Nawaz

Some office-bearers say they will back LHCBA’s movement, while others say they will not.

LAHORE: The representatives of Lahore Bar Association (LBA) seem divided over the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s (LHCBA) decision to launch a countrywide movement if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif does not step down in seven days following the Supreme Court’s Panamagate verdict announced last month.

LBA President Chaudhry Tanveer Akhtar termed LHCBA’s demand for the PM’s resignation as “not justified”. He questioned why lawyers were making the demand when the matter is pending with the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is working on it.

“If the PM tenders his resignation and he is declared innocent in the Panamagate case, what will the lawyers making these demands do then,” he asked. “The resignation demand is not justified and it is illegal.”



When asked about why the LBA took a lot of time to decide whether to stand with the LHCBA and Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), he confirmed the impression that several representatives were pro-Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and some were against it.

He added the LBA will not participate in the countrywide movement that the LHCBA is threatening because it is not in favour of such demands.

However, LBA General Secretary Farhan Mustafa Jafri was of a different view.  Jafri told The Express Tribune that LBA representatives were with the LHCBA and they would take part in the LHCBA movement if the PM does not resign within the given time period.

On the other hand, LBA Vice President Chaudhry Irfan Sadiq Tarar said he did not support any political party and did not want to be “used as tools by politicians.” He added that he always worked for the betterment of lawyers and strongly condemned those who vandalised the hall at Saturday’s conference.

In an LHCBA-organised conference on Saturday, the All Pakistan Lawyers Representatives Convention had warned in a resolution that if the PM did not resign within seven days, the legal fraternity would launch a countrywide movement against him.



However, the conference could not take place on its scheduled time as pro-PML-N lawyers led by Deputy Attorney General Naseer Bhutta reportedly vandalised the venue. Before the arrival of the hosts at the Javed Iqbal Auditorium of the LHCBA, the lawyers who support PML-N allegedly reached the place, smashed windows of the hall and upturned chairs and tables.

The ruckus went on for several hours before the pro-Nawaz lawyers finally left the venue and the convention began.

The lawyers’ resolution read: “A comprehensive campaign will be lodged for the accountability of all public officials who indulged in financial improprieties and corruption through offshore companies or otherwise.”

It demanded that the PM should immediately resign from his office to facilitate FIR and independent inquiry against him by the JIT. In case he fails to resign within next seven days, lawyers throughout Pakistan would launch a nationwide campaign and movement to force him to resign, the resolution added.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2017.