Lawyers’ ongoing strike taking toll on litigants
PHOTO: FILE
As the ongoing strike called by the District Bar Association entered the seventh consecutive day, the backlog of cases in sessions, civil, family and special courts across the Rawalpindi district have started to pile up.
Sources said that the backlog of cases in these courts has jumped to 6,811 after the lawyers have called the strike against what they said the registration of cases against their peers in various cities of Punjab.
Due to the ongoing strike and adjournment of cases, district and tehsil courts present a deserted look from morning to evening.
On the other hand, subordinate courts also continue to bar litigants from filing new cases and bail pleas citing the lawyers’ strike. As a result, bail petitions of hundreds of litigants remained piled up without being entertained by judges. On the other hand, lawyers have challenged the subordinate courts’ move in the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench.
According to reports, prisoners brought from Adiala jail to courts were sent back without being heard by judges as lawyers refuse to appear before judges.
Senior advocates Masood Shah, Najaf ul Hussain, and Chaudhary Asim Rasheed said their demands should be met immediately and the registration of cases against lawyers should be stopped. They said that the strike will continue as long as their demands were not met.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2022.