Striking lawyers demand PM’s resignation

Lahore high court lawyers say not to strike call as mixed response is seen in Rawalpindi

LAHORE: The legal fraternity on Wednesday observed a countrywide strike to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down as the hearing of the Panamagate enters a final round.

However, lawyers in the Lahore High Court did not pay heed to the strike call while a mixed response was witnessed at district courts and high courts in Rawalpindi.

Top associations of lawyers in the country, including the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), had called for a countrywide boycott of courts on Wednesday in an attempt to mount pressure on the PM, insisting that he had lost the moral authority to govern in the wake of the Panamagate JIT report.



But representatives of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) appeared in the courts, and said they could not be shut just to ask the PM to resign. They said even though they were the first to demand the PM’s resignation, boycotting the courts would be a loss to litigants.

However, lawyers at the district courts observed a complete strike and avoided appearing before courts.

In Karachi, lawyers shunned the legal proceedings and did not turn up at the Sindh High Court to plead their cases fixed for the day.

Endorsing the strike call, the Sindh Bar Council had called upon the legal fraternity across the province not to appear in courts. Hundreds of cases fixed at the high court could not be taken up causing difficulties to litigants. However, the judges remained available in their chambers to hear urgent matters.

In Hyderabad too, lawyers observed a complete strike. The lawyers associated with the Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Hyderabad District Bar Association demanded of the prime minister to step down in the wake of the JIT report.

In Rawalpindi, both the District Bar Association and the Lahore High Court Bar Association had asked their members to observe a strike. But the call for strike received a mixed response at both the district and high courts.

A good number of lawyers attended their cases at the district and high courts, and many litigants had to return home with a new date as their lawyers did not turn up. However, by and large the lawyers stayed away from court proceedings.

When contacted, District Bar Association president Sajjad Akbar Abbasi advocate said the bars had notified the strike call by the Pakistan and Punjab bar councils.

He added that some lawyers dealing with cases of urgent nature were present in the courts, but by and large the law practitioners remained away from the court proceedings.

Asked if the bar council held their general body meetings endorsing the call for PM’s resignation, Abbasi said they did not have the meetings. He said there was a likelihood of a clash between the lawyers in the rival ranks during the meetings over the resignation issue.