Remand of five lawyers extended in IHC attack case

An anti-terrorism court on Friday extended the judicial remand of five lawyers arrested in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) attack case.

District Bar Secretary Liaqat Manzoor Kamboh, Sardar Najam Abbas, Mohammad Omar, Zafar Khokhar and Khalid Mahmood were brought from the jail to the court.

The ATC extended the judicial remand of Liaquat Manzoor Kamboh till March 2, Sardar Najam Abbas and Mohammad Omar’s till March 3, while the judicial remand of former District Bar president Zafar Khokhar and Khalid Mahmood was extended till March 4.

Meanwhile, the court also approved the judicial remand of a lawyer arrested a day ago in the same case. The Islamabad police produced Asadullah before ATC judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan. T

he court ordered the relevant officials to send Asadullah along with another arrested lawyer, Raja Zahid Mahmood, to jail till February 26. A day ago, the IHC served notices to another 21 lawyers over misconduct and sought a reply from them in a week.

A three-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz, presided over the case pertaining to February 8's vandalism of the high court. Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Haseeb Chaudhry, Riasat Ali Azad, and other lawyers had appeared before the bench.

The chief justice had remarked that the case was not a personal issue for him, but a matter of the judiciary’s dignity. He added that IHC would send references against lawyers involved in the attack as per the law.

Justice Minallah had noted that the Islamabad Bar Council (IBA) had condemned the attack as well and asked the court to send references against the suspected lawyers.

He had further stated that the list was comprised of more than 150 suspected names but IHC wanted to ensure nobody faced any injustice.