SARGODHA: Dozens of lawyers on Wednesday broke on to University of Sargodha premises and took over a stage set up for a laptop distribution ceremony which was to be attended by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
They occupied the stage for over an hour and refused to leave until they were assured a meeting with the chief minister to discuss the establishment of a High Court bench in Sargodha would be arranged.
The ceremony began with a delay of over an hour after the chief minister had met and addressed the protesting lawyers and assured them that a summary for setting up a High Court bench in Sargodha would be approved by the cabinet in a week.
Earlier, Sharif had remained stranded at a Pakistan Air Force Base (PAF) after arriving in the city to attend the ceremony. Laptops were later distributed by the chief minister among 3,486 students of the university.
Some of the lawyers had entered the university campus by scaling the boundary walls. Others smashed the walk-through gates, compromising security arrangements in place for the ceremony. Witnesses said a security guard was beaten up for putting up resistance to the protesters. The lawyers also chanted slogans against the provincial government for failing to honour its promise about the establishment of the High Court bench.
Talking to The Express Tribune, District Bar Association president Shams Naveed Cheema said lawyers of Sargodha had been campaigning for the establishment of a High Court bench for over two years. He said the chief minister had yet to honour the commitment made to the lawyers in this matter during a visit ahead of by-elections in NA-68 two years ago. He justified the picketing by saying that the administration had been warned about it in advance. “We had told them that we will not let the chief minister leave Sargodha without meeting us,” he said.
Heated arguments and competitive chanting of slogans were also reported during the picketing between some lawyers and students who had gathered to attend the ceremony.
The lawyers refused to listen to requests by UoS Vice Chancellor Dr Akram Chaudhry who repeatedly requested them to end their demonstration at the campus and leave the university. Commissioner Shaukat Ali and Acting RPO Dr Rizwan also arrived at the scene and negotiated with the protesting lawyers.
A university spokesman told The Tribune that there was no plan to initiate any action in the matter. He said security arrangements would be stepped up for similar events in future to avoid untoward situations.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2012.
COMMENTS (16)
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@Baleegh: But what will be reaction of Government of Punjab, still if the youth likes Imran Khan? Tell the nation one thing that where were these laptops beofre processions of Imran Khan???
@Baleegh: Tell us what impression is left on the mind of whole nation when they realised by this protest that CM has not fulfilled his promise with lawyers since July 2010.?
We have learnt a lot from exile from of Pakistan. We are not afraid of Imran Khan. Pakistan is a very difficult country to rule on. We will manage win in election 2013.
After living in many modern democracies, I have not seen in a single country where CM is distributing computers in person. It couldn't be more than a publicity stunt. Strange to see that education institute can't produce results and students were given wrong marking by boards. Please leave politics of number scoring and strengthen institutes.
After seeing lots and lots of comments on the distribution ceremony of free laptop computers to the students of the University of Sargodha, none of the commenter’s appreciated this step by the government, rather they said it a false gesture by the chief minister against the opposition leader Mr. Imran Khan, to put the people on the wise track, Mr. Khan has never won a seat in elections even from his own city of Mianwali, what to talk about leading the country, it’s looks clumsy to talk about it here, rather the step of government should be appreciated to put the student abreast with the latest changes in the technology. The ceremony was disrupted by the lawyers of Pakistan, Sargodha division, which should have been avoided if the police have been more powerful than they really are today. I liked the kind gesture of the government of Punjab, and it will help many students to progress further in their professional life, well done and keep up the good work.
The today's event was very much distracted by the so called lawyers being the literate class of the country by ruining the show of the students of the University of Sargodha. This was quite a bad impression that the lawyers of Sargodha left on the minds of the masses. They were requested thrice by the VC Mr. Akram, but to no heed. They were requested by the student leader couple of times to leave the venue, but all in vain and the lawyers kept on sitting on the grass where the police band has to salute the students of the University of Sargodha. Very bad impression on me and other colleagues of mine studying in the UoS. Why the police allowed them to enter the students function in the first place? This could have been avoided, if we had a powerful police, where as we have not??
Outrageous behavior that warrants disbarment - that will send a message to all attorneys throughout Pakistan.
I'm not too big a fan of PML-N but in my view Shehbaz sharrif has done much much better job than the federal and the other three provincial governments. I agree laptop thingy is not the best use of resources but if we take a look at the development projects in Punjab, the numbers are enormous. Apart from this lawyers incident I"ve noticed as I'm a student of journalism whatever project he started did come to an end. If we compare this even with the past governments you will find an impressive gap. So we shouldn't just criticize for the sake of criticism and should acknowledge and support the people who are doing the job they are supposed to do. And trust me people you will find this ability rarely if you look around.
I am PML member since childhood. Mian Sahiban were my leaders. But it could not stop me to speak truth. Students getting LAPTOP should be thankful to Imran Khan. Becasue his increasing political power has forced PML(N) to grab youth power in their favour. Khan sb! force them to solve rest of the problems.
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These laptops are total crap; I know students who have received them. They don't have windows installed but some 3rd rate operating system. If PMLN wanted to buy youth votes they should done by fixing the mess they have created in the board examinations. Anyway its too little too late.
Free laptops, mixed marathons and Punjab Sports Festival for the youth in less than 3 months - PML-N surely looks freaked out at the Khan's immenent tsunami
Yea, well sorry for the disrespect but instead of buying students(as the students are khan's main force) vote by giving them free laptops he could have had built colleges,universities,high courts etc that would have been much usefull to these people in future, as if once they win they wont be doing anything for them.