Up in arms: Hundreds of black coats turn on police across Punjab

Punjab Bar Council announces complete boycott of court proceedings today

BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN/ FAISALABAD/ LAHORE: Following the death of two lawyers in police firing in Daska, thousands of lawyers across the province took to the streets to condemn the incident on Monday. 

The charged protesters in Daska set alight the city police station, the TMA office and the DSP’s office.  Lawyers also damaged police vans in Gujranwala, Multan and Lahore.

In Lahore, over a hundred lawyers took out a rally from Aiwan-i-Adl to the Lahore High Court. They were joined by over a hundred members of the Lahore High Court Bar Association at E-Plomer Chowk.

They placed blockades on the road and beat up citizens who tried to remove them. Traffic on The Mall remained blocked for the duration of the protest. One of the TV cameramen at the scene was also beaten up badly and had to be taken to Mayo Hospital. The protesting lawyers also snatched some of the TV cameras and smashed them. An orderly of Commissioner Abdullah Sumbal was also thrashed by the protesters.

The protesters later stopped LHC Chief Justice Justice Manzoor A Malik’s car and demanded that he take suo motu notice of the incident. Justice Malik told the lawyers that the culprits would be brought to the book at any cost. He later visited Mayo Hospital to inquire after Advocate Jahanzeb Sahi who had been injured in the Daska riots.

The LHC chief justice took suo motu of the incident and issued directions for Rangers to be deployed at the Daska courts.

The lawyers protested at E-Plomer Chowk for more than three hours and dispersed after LHCBA president Pir Masood Chishti assured them that justice would be served.

Police ‘barred’ from Multan courts

Hundreds of lawyers in Multan boycotted court proceedings and staged a demonstration at Kutchery Chowk.

Members of the Multan District Bar Association led by its president, Khalid Ashraf Khan, called the protest. They were joined by lawyers from the People’s Lawyers’ Forum led by Syed Arif Shah, who shouted slogans against the police. The lawyers announced that police would be barred from entering the district court premises. They announced two days of mourning.

The mob smashed windscreens of several police vehicles and tore down government banners at the chowk.

Muhammad Ali Gillani, president of the Multan High Court Bar Association, said they would observe a strike at Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench and district courts in 10 districts of Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions on Tuesday (today).  The Punjab Bar Council has called for the boycott across the province.

Khalid Ashraf Khan demanded resignation of the home minister and the registration of a murder case against the Punjab Police IG, the DPO Sialkot and the Daska SP.

Bahawalpur lawyers demand CM’s suspension

Members of the Punjab Young Lawyers held a demonstration condemning the killing of two lawyers in Daska. They demanded that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif suspend the Punjab chief minister and the Punjab IGP and register a murder case against them.

Punjab Young Lawyers president Advocate Chaudhry Farooq Basheer, Chaudhry Waqas Basheer, Kamran Parvez, Nasir Qureshi, Bahawalpur District Bar Association joint secretary Khawaja Faisal Qayum, Human Rights activist Nasir Tanveer issued a joint statement on the incident demanding that the “foul behaviour of Daska police must not go unpunished”.

Black armbands worn in Faisalabad

Hundreds of lawyers led by DBA president Malik Muhammad Ayub Sialvi held a sit-in at Zila Council Chowk.

The DBA held an emergent meeting in which Sialvi said this was the worst display of police highhandedness and brutality. He said the lawyers in Daska were protesting against police atrocities when they were attacked.

They said if the culprits weren’t taken to task immediately, the lawyers’ community will be forced to take direct action.

Sailvi announced a complete strike on Tuesday. He called on lawyers to wear black armbands and to gather at the Kutchery Mosque at 11am on Tuesday to offer funeral prayers in absentia for the two lawyers killed in the clash.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2015.