Here they go again: Faisalabad lawyers plan to besiege LHC

Lawyers would besiege the LHC on December 17.

FAISALABAD:

The Faisalabad District Bar Association president on Tuesday said that lawyers would besiege the Lahore High Court on December 17 to press their demand for LHC benches in five Punjab divisions.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Faisalabad Bar President Mian Javaid Iqbal said the lawyers had been betrayed. He said the government had promised to set up LHC benches in Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha and Gujranwala, but later backed out of its commitment and had been using delaying tactics.

The Bar president said if their demands were not met by December 11, the lawyers from the five divisions would besiege the LHC on December 17. He said a boycott of courts would begin from December 14 after a lawyers’ convention in DG Khan. On Tuesdays, lawyers in Faisalabad continued their token strike.

On November 26, some 200 lawyers from the five divisions had staged a protest demonstration in front of the Supreme Court in Islamabad. They had tried to enter the court building leading to a clash with the police who used teargas and rubber bullets. The lawyers had thrown stones at the police and the court building. Several lawyers and policemen were injured.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2013.