Occupational hazard: City’s lawyers boycott courts in colleague’s support
Senior lawyer Abdul Sattar Khan claims he is being threatened by his opposing party in a case.
Hundreds of cases fixed before various benches were not heard on Thursday because lawyers stayed away from courts in protest. This caused inconvenience to scores of petitioners who look to the courts for assistance in their legal issues. PHOTO: AFP
PESHAWAR:
Courts remained deserted on Thursday as lawyers of the Peshawar High Court and district bar associations boycotted proceedings on the call of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Association.
The strike was called over alleged threats to a lawyer from his opponents in a civil case he is fighting. Senior lawyer Abdul Sattar Khan claimed he had received threats from an opponent party in a case he is pursuing in the high court related to land.
According to Khan, he has been warned to quit pursuing the case or there will be “serious consequences.” Khan was the runner-up candidate during the previous elections for the Supreme Court Bar Association.
The protesting lawyers have demanded the provincial government take necessary steps to protect the legal fraternity from threats from their opponent groups as they had become a norm.
On Wednesday, lawyers’ associations held a meeting and demanded that the government arrest those threatening Khan within 48 hours. They also blocked Jail Road for some time to register their protest.
“The government should form a committee comprising representatives from the advocate general and attorney general offices, provincial government and lawyers’ association to ensure such threats are not repeated,” former PHCBA secretary general Aminur Rehman said at the meeting.
The meeting’s participants were told that Khan approached the local police station to register a case against the people threatening him but the police did not cooperate with him, while a political activist is pressurising the family Khan is representing to reach an agreement and settle the issue.
Hundreds of cases fixed before various benches were not heard on Thursday because lawyers stayed away from courts in protest. This caused inconvenience to scores of petitioners who look to the courts for assistance in their legal issues.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2015.
Courts remained deserted on Thursday as lawyers of the Peshawar High Court and district bar associations boycotted proceedings on the call of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Association.
The strike was called over alleged threats to a lawyer from his opponents in a civil case he is fighting. Senior lawyer Abdul Sattar Khan claimed he had received threats from an opponent party in a case he is pursuing in the high court related to land.
According to Khan, he has been warned to quit pursuing the case or there will be “serious consequences.” Khan was the runner-up candidate during the previous elections for the Supreme Court Bar Association.
The protesting lawyers have demanded the provincial government take necessary steps to protect the legal fraternity from threats from their opponent groups as they had become a norm.
On Wednesday, lawyers’ associations held a meeting and demanded that the government arrest those threatening Khan within 48 hours. They also blocked Jail Road for some time to register their protest.
“The government should form a committee comprising representatives from the advocate general and attorney general offices, provincial government and lawyers’ association to ensure such threats are not repeated,” former PHCBA secretary general Aminur Rehman said at the meeting.
The meeting’s participants were told that Khan approached the local police station to register a case against the people threatening him but the police did not cooperate with him, while a political activist is pressurising the family Khan is representing to reach an agreement and settle the issue.
Hundreds of cases fixed before various benches were not heard on Thursday because lawyers stayed away from courts in protest. This caused inconvenience to scores of petitioners who look to the courts for assistance in their legal issues.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2015.