Karachi Bar protests: Lawyers refuse to let up on NGOs
KBA says the usurped space within the Malir courts are harming the junior lawyers by taking their cases away.
KARACHI:
The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) held a press conference to reassert its decision to boycott the courts unless the two NGO offices in the court building are not removed.
The KBA, Malir Bar Association and Sindh Bar Council got together at the Shuhada-e-Punjab Hall, KBA building, on Thursday. KBA president Muhammad Aqil advocate explained that, according to the Legal Practitioners Act in the 1973 Constitution, providing legal aid to habitual criminals is illegal.
“The KBA, Malir bar and Sindh bar strongly condemn this illegal practice of the NGOs and will continue our strike until their offices are not removed,” he said. “The funds that are sent by other countries should be given to the Pakistan Bar Council and they will decide who to provide legal aid to.”
He said that the majority of the lawyers practicing at the city courts are junior or unsettled and the NGOs are harming them financially by taking their cases.
The lawyers shouted slogans against the former judges who own the NGOs. “I appeal to Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid to avoid playing with the emotions of the lawyers and to stop killing them financially,” said a KBA managing committee member.
The lawyers have been on strike since Wednesday and are not showing up for hearings.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.
The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) held a press conference to reassert its decision to boycott the courts unless the two NGO offices in the court building are not removed.
The KBA, Malir Bar Association and Sindh Bar Council got together at the Shuhada-e-Punjab Hall, KBA building, on Thursday. KBA president Muhammad Aqil advocate explained that, according to the Legal Practitioners Act in the 1973 Constitution, providing legal aid to habitual criminals is illegal.
“The KBA, Malir bar and Sindh bar strongly condemn this illegal practice of the NGOs and will continue our strike until their offices are not removed,” he said. “The funds that are sent by other countries should be given to the Pakistan Bar Council and they will decide who to provide legal aid to.”
He said that the majority of the lawyers practicing at the city courts are junior or unsettled and the NGOs are harming them financially by taking their cases.
The lawyers shouted slogans against the former judges who own the NGOs. “I appeal to Justice (retd) Nasir Aslam Zahid to avoid playing with the emotions of the lawyers and to stop killing them financially,” said a KBA managing committee member.
The lawyers have been on strike since Wednesday and are not showing up for hearings.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.