Jammu & Kashmir

Attempt on CJ’s life: AJK lawyers boycott courts against police ‘inefficiency’

Warn of widespread protests if attackers not arrested by January 23.

Ah Nizami January 20, 2012

MIRPUR:

Lawyers boycotted courts on Thursday to protest against the delay in the arrest of attackers who fired at Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal and injured him last year.

The lawyers accused the AJK police of inefficiency for failing to arrest the accused even after a lapse of three months. They warned of widespread protests across AJK if the attackers were not arrested by January 23.

The strike caused immense inconvenience to litigants who had come from afar, especially from remote areas of the hilly district.

While addressing a group of lawyers outside the courts, Mirpur District Bar Association (DBA) President Kamran Tariq said the inordinate delay in nabbing the accused has spread “a wave of grave concern” among the legal fraternity across AJK. He said judges, lawyers and various segments of the civil society are troubled due to a sense of lack of security.

Mirpur DBA General Secretary Sanawer Kamali urged the government to take notice of the gravity of the situation. He said the lawyers will make sure that no innocent person is made a scapegoat by the authorities, adding that the legal fraternity would not compromise on this issue at any cost.

The district bar association’s leaders called for booking of Inspector General of Police AJK, Tariq Khokhar and Chief Secretary Arbab Shehzad, adding that the delay in the arrest of the accused was ample proof of their incompetence.

The AJK High Court chief justice was shot at by unidentified attackers while he was jogging in the ground of AJK University in Chahaila Bandi, last October. He was shifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Muzaffarabad with a gunshot wound where he had to undergo surgery. His condition was stated to be stable. The AJK Supreme Court chief justice had ordered the police to arrest the assailant “within 24 hours.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2012.