ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday said that they could not allow the lives of judges, litigants, lawyers and the public to be put at risk at the district courts and asked the district bar association to play their role in normalising the situation.
This was observed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Khawar Ameer Bukhari relating to the lawyer’s strike in the Sector F-8 Kutchery. The petition was identical to the one filed by Advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Akram and heard by the IHC on Wednesday.
During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice Minallah again alluded to a power lobby hijacking the Islamabad District Bar Association (IDBA).
“The court wants to see bar more powerful instead of a certain group,” CJ Minallah said.
To facilitate litigants: Lawyers scale back their strike
During Thursday’s hearing, Bukhari contended in his petition that judges of the lower courts were not hearing their cases due to an alleged ongoing strike. He urged the court to fix the case for an early hearing so that the matter could be resolved quickly.
After hearing the plea, the court clubbed the two identical petitions and fixed it for hearing on February 4.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the court had issued notices to the secretaries of interior, and the law and justice ministries, the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) — who also holds the office Islamabad Capital Territory’s chief commissioner, along with the Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad Police.
The president of the Islamabad Bar Association and the vice chairman of the Islamabad Bar Council were also directed to file detailed reported on the matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2019.
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