District Collector’s Office: Revenue staff protest against lawyers

LAHORE: Staff at the district collector (revenue)’s office boycotted their work and staged a protest in front of the district coordination officer’s office at the District Courts on Saturday, demanding that a group of lawyers who attacked them a day earlier be punished. The protesters locked their offices and chanted slogans against the lawyers. Riaz Hussain Zahid, president of the Staff Association [for] Administration [of the] District Collector’s office (SAADC) told The Express Tribune that a group of lawyers had come to the office on Friday to get approval for a registry. He said that a staffer named Khurram Riaz told the lawyers they needed to pay Rs35,000 for the approval, at which they flared up and beat up Riaz inside the office of Sub-Registrar Khizar Hayat. Riaz was taken to hospital with severe injuries, he said. A similar incident happened on Saturday with clerk Mohammad Imtiaz, he said. More than 50 staffers staged a sit-in and vowed to continue their protest till a case was registered against the lawyers. Zahid said that Advocate Ijaz Hashim had badly beaten Khurram Riaz while Mian Sarfaraz and Arif Siddique had beaten up Imtiaz. They urged the chief justice of the Lahore High Court to take action against the lawyers.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.