PBC slams ‘illegal raids’ at lawyers’ homes

Council says these actions ‘unacceptable and unjustified’

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday condemned the “unwarranted” police raids at the residences and offices of lawyers across the country and the registration of FIRs against them while performing their professional duties.

“[These actions are] unacceptable, unjustified, unethical and against the law and Constitution,” read a statement issued by PBC Vice-Chairman Haroon-ur-Rashid and Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha.

The police recently raided the Lahore residence of Chaudhry Zubair Ahmad Kisana -- the president of PTI’s legal wing Punjab Insaf Lawyers Forum -- and ransacked his furniture and other items.

Kisana’s family claimed that around 45 policemen in uniform and plainclothes reached the residence in in five vehicles and smashed open the main gate.

A week earlier, PTI chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha was interrogated for eight hours by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Cyber Crime Cell in Islamabad in connection with Judge Humayun Dilawar’s controversial Facebook post.

Sessions Judge Dilawar sentenced Imran to three years in jail in the Toshakhana (gift repository) case and disqualified him for five years.

Read Justice Shah calls for avoiding legal anomaly

The next day, the FIA summoned and questioned Khawaja Haris, the lead counsel of the PTI chief, about the Facebook post.

The PBC office-bearers said the apex body of lawyers could not turn a blind eye to the “illegal” acts of police against the family members of advocates.

They expressed their great concerns on the raids being conducted on the residences of lawyers and their arrests.

They added that advocates should not be affiliated with any political party as they only performed their professional duties to protect the interest of their respective clients as per law.

The PBC office-bearers demanded that the authorities should forthwith stop the raids and cancel the FIRs registered against lawyers.

They continued that the authorities should also avoid threatening the lawyers that the law enforcement agencies would harass their families.

The PBC warned that if these actions were not stopped, the council would chalk out its future course of action.

Separately, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) condemned a complaint filed by an organisation called the Civil Society of Pakistan before the Supreme Judicial Council against top court’s senior judge Justice Sardar Tariq Masood seeking an inquiry into alleged financial misconduct against him.

In a statement, the lawyers’ body highlighted that Justice Masood was a very honest judge, who was performing his duties according to the Constitution and law.

The IHCBA maintained that the complaint was an unconstitutional attempt to prevent independent decision-making in the context of the current situation in the country.

The bar association said it advocated a constitutionally independent and strong judiciary.

“Unfortunately, since the creation of Pakistan, there has been a conspiracy to weaken the judicial system in the country,” it added.

The IHCBA continued that judges were always being forced to make decisions against their will by blackmailing them in various ways.

The statement further read that the filing of false and fabricated complaints against judges, who refused to comply with the “unconstitutional demands” of various institutions, had become the norm.

“This kind of propaganda against judges cannot be tolerated under any circumstances,” the association continued.

The IHCBA claimed that a reference was filed against another SC senior judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, for making his decision according to the Constitution in the Faizabad sit-in case.

The IHCBA pledged to stand by the judiciary and said it was ready to go to any extent for the rule of law in the country.

Recently, the PBC condemned the complaint against Justice Masood as well.