Court security: LBA protests police ‘indifference’

LBA gen sec says lawyers vulnerable to attacks but police not taking their concerns seriously.

LAHORE: The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) on Saturday observed a strike in a protest against police for not providing adequate security at lower courts. The lawyers did not show up for hearings and their cases were then fixed for hearing later. LBA General Secretary Chaudhry Saleem Ladhi said lawyers were vulnerable to attacks on account of the nature of their work but the police was not taking their concerns seriously. He said the LBA had held several meetings with the operations DIG and the CCPO and sought enhanced security at subordinate courts after the attack on Islamabad courts. He said a senior civil judge had written to the CCPO, seeking 12 police officials, including women officers, for security purposes but to no avail. He said police officials had demanded removal of lawyers’ chambers from court premises when LBA representatives demanded security there. He said LBA had also demanded metal detectors and walk-though gates. He said some lawyers had received life threats and gotten letters from banned outfits but police had not taken them seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2014.