Attack on Judge’s house: Opposition, lawyers condemn firing incident

Express solidarity with judiciary for supremacy of Constitution and law

LAHORE: Opposition parties have strongly condemned the firing incident on the residence of Justice Ejazul Hassan of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) and expressed their concerns over the incident.

Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central Punjab President Abdul Aleem Khan has demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. He said those who were threatening the judiciary should be taken to task and interrogated by the law enforcing agencies.

Khan said his party strongly believed in transparent accountability and no such incident should become a hurdle in this regard. “If such incidents are not stopped, chaos and confusion will grip the country.

PTI will not allow ‘Gullu cracy’ against the superior courts by some political figures with nefarious designs,” he remarked.

PTI leaders Shoaib Siddiqui, Zaheer Abbass Khokhar, Ejaz Diyaal, Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema, Mehr Waajid Azeem, Mian Yameen Tippu and Jamshaid Butt also expressed their concern on the incident and demanded the arrest of the culprits.

Meanwhile, speaking to media persons on Sunday, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and senior central leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi also condemned the firing incident on the residence of Justice Ejazul Hassan and expressed concern over the incident. They demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident to expose the real perpetrators of the firing incident.

Expressing solidarity with the judiciary on behalf of PML-Q, they said the entire nation was standing behind the judiciary for the supremacy of the Constitution and the law and those responsible for such deplorable acts would gain nothing. They said coward enemies of the institutions should remember that none of their tactics would succeed.

Emphasising on the immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the attack, the PML-Q leaders said on this attack they fully support the stance and reaction of the lawyers’ organisations.

Meanwhile, the legal fraternity also condemned the firing incident. Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Punjab Bar Council (PBC) and other lawyers' organisations on Sunday also condemned the firing incident on house of a Supreme Court judge.

In an emergent media conference, SCBA President Pir Kalim Khurshid, Vice President Qamar Zaman Qureshi and Secretary Safdar Tarar said some elements had a sheer misconception about intimidating the honourable judges of the apex court through such coward tactics.

They demanded the authorities concerned to ensure foolproof security of judges across the country. They said the elements involved in the incident must be arrested immediately and tried under Anti-Terrorism Act, besides formulating a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to fix the responsibility for the incident. They were of the view that a strong judiciary was a guarantee to a stronger country and all conspiracies to pressurise or undermine the judiciary would be foiled. They also announced to convene a condemnation meeting soon.

On the other hand, Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) President Nisar Ahmed also convened an emergency meeting of the lawyers’ body on Monday. Former vice chairman of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Muhammad Ramazan and other lawyers' leaders including Amir Shaheen, Aftab Bajwa, Pir Masood Chishti, Muddassar Chaudhry and Shafqat Mehmood also strongly condemned the incident and demanded a transparent inquiry into it.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2018.