Civil judges end strike, withdraw resignations

Civil judges end strike and withdraw resignations as Justice Zawwar is sent on four month leave.

Civil judges ended their strike and withdrew their resignations as Justice Zawwar Sheikh, who has been at the center of an ongoing clash between the bench and bar in Lahore, was sent on a four month leave on Tuesday.

Justice Sheikh has been replaced by Justice Sohail Nasir as Sessions Judge.

On Monday, over 1300 lower court judges submitted resignations to show solidarity with District and Sessions Judge Justice Zawwar A Sheikh.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday constituted a three-member committee of senior lawyers, headed by Justice (retired) Mian Allah Nawaz, the former chief justice of the Lahore High Court, to resolve the dispute between the bar and the bench of the subordinate courts.

He had advised the civil judges of the lower courts, who had tendered their resignations to protests the lawyers’ actions, to immediately resume their work.

Lawyers at the lower courts had been observing a complete boycott of the courts proceedings, however a partial strike was witnessed at the Lahore High Court.

Lawyers in the past week had been protesting to demand the transfer of Sessions Judge Zawar Sheikh. Infuriated lawyers had attacked the courtroom of the Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif on Thursday.

On Friday, police reportedly entered the Lahore district courts, known as Aiwan-e-Adl – including bar rooms and library – and mercilessly thrashed the lawyers. Several lawyers, among them women, were wounded in the mayhem.

Clashes continued between lawyers and police for the third day in a row on Saturday.

The chief justice had taken suo moto notice of the clashes and had heard the case on Monday during which the three-member committee to resolve the dispute had been formed.