After a lawyer was beaten up and two others were arrested on Tuesday, their fraternity boycotted court proceedings and staged a protest against the authorities on Wednesday.
The protest was led by the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) Farooq Pirzada, Hadi Bux Bhatt, a senior lawyer, and Shabbir Shar. The lawyers were seen marching through Minara Road to Dolphin Chowk with black flags and shouting slogans against the police.
While talking to the media, the protestors criticised the police and said that Mir Mohammad Tunio, a lawyer, was attacked by Imran Qadri, a broker who owed him money. The protestors said that the broker and his neighbours took Tunio to the C-Section police station where he was beaten up by the SHO. When the news got around, SHCBA’s Sukkur secretary general Qurban Malano and district bar association president Shafqat Raheem went to the police station to look into the issue. They were also arrested.
The protestors claim that SHO Abdul Sattar Ansari did not listen to Raheem or Malano’s side of the story but arrested them and took them to an undisclosed location.
The protestors were afraid that the police might hurt the arrested men as Sukkur’s DIG and SSP were not being cooperative.
As matters grew intense, Tunio was taken to Civil Hospital, Sukkur. While talking to The Express Tribune, Tunio said that Qadri owed him money so he went to collect it from his house in Regent Colony. He added that Qadri and his neighbours attacked him and took him to the police station where the SHO hit him. Tunio claimed that when his colleagues, Malano and Raheem, got there the SHO arrested them too.
The other side of the story
According to SHO Ansari, Qadri brought Tunio to the police station for breaking and entering his house and misbehaving with the women.
While talking to The Express Tribune about Malano and Raheem, the SHO claimed that they came to the police station and manhandled Qadri. He also said that they took Tunio with them. The SHO added that the lawyers were creating a scene for no apparent reason.
According to Bhatt, the Sindh High Court’s Sukkur bench had issued notices to the Sindh government for Sukkur’s DIG, SSP and SHO Ansari to appear before the court on February 28 with two lawyers to submit their comments.
He told The Express Tribune, that Malano and Raheem were released soon after he filed the application in court.
While talking to The Express Tribune, Malano said that he went to the police station with Raheem and the SHO arrested them.
He added that the next day the police took them to Pannu Aqil but the Pannu Aqil police refused to keep them in their custody.
He claims that after the DIG found out about the protest, they were released near Pannu Aqil Cantonment.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ