Bar elections: Professional group wins Multan bench

President-elect says his victory is defeat for federal government, message of support to superior judiciary.

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN:

The Professional Group of Lawyers won elections to the offices of president and senior vice-president of Lahore High Court Bar Association (Multan bench) on Saturday. 

The office of vice-president was secured uncontested by Pakistan Peoples Party-backed Muhammad Iqbal Sargana.

Mehmood Ashraf Khan of the Professional Group was elected president of the LHCBA Multan bench by getting 1,739 votes.

His opponents, Habib Ullah Shakir and Latif Ullah, got 1,227 and 886 votes, respectively. Shakir was supported by lawyers associated with the PPP.

Talking to the media after the announcement of result, Khan, whose brother Shahid Mahmood Khan recently resigned from his Punjab Assembly seat to join the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, said his win was a warning by lawyers’ community to the federal government that it should stop disrespecting the superior courts of the country.

Khan said his victory was a defeat for Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, who he said had been personally contacting bar associations and lawyers’ groups in the region to support his party’s candidate. “The lawyers of Multan have shown that they are on the side of the judiciary,” he said.

Khan said he would remain a supporter of independence of judiciary. He was accompanied by PTI president Javed Hashmi.

Azeemul Haq Peerzada, leaders of Jamaate Islami lawyer group in Multan, had announced support for the professional group’s candidates.

Farrukh Mustafa Kamal of the professional group was elected to the senior vice-president’s office. He defeated Rafiq Arain by getting 2,193 votes. Arain secured 1,509 votes.

Jafar Bukhari was elected to the office of general secretary and Muhammad Shehbaz to the office of joint secretary.

As many as 6,112 registered members of the LHCBA from several southern and central districts of the province cast ballots.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2012.

>Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2012.