Lawyers demand arrest of assistant commissioner

QUETTA: Female lawyers on Sunday demanded immediate arrest of Quetta Assistant Commissioner Sania Safi for allegedly manhandling a group of lawyers over a parking dispute at Meezan Chowk in the provincial metropolis.

Addressing a joint news conference at the District Court after a brawl with the guards of the assistant commissioner, Advocate Qamar-un-Nisa, Advocate Sarod Sultana, Advocate Taj Bibi and others said that district officials “cannot be allowed to harass lawyers”.

They said that the Balochistan High Court and the district administration had allowed lawyers to park their vehicles in front of Bladia Plaza in the evening hours. They said it was for the traffic police to deal with the traffic issues, like parking, and not the assistant commissioner.



The lawyers said that Sania had been nominated in the First Information Report (FIR) for “manhandling lawyers” and slammed her for lodging an FIR against them.

They said that lawyers had decided to boycott court proceedings on October 2. They threatened to stage a protest in front of the CM House against “the non-seriousness of the provincial government on the issue”.

Meanwhile, the Patwar Association and the All Pakistan Clerk Association (APCA) of Balochistan on Friday went on a strike in protest against what they called injustice with the Quetta assistant commissioner.