Justice held up: Litigants unhappy with lawyers’ boycott of courts

Lawyers remained absent from court for the fifth consecutive day.

MULTAN: Hundreds of litigants complained on Friday that lawyers’ boycott of courts for the fifth consecutive day was holding up important matters.

Lawyers of Lahore High Court’s Multan bench and the sessions courts boycotted proceedings and took out a rally from district bar office to Kutchery Chowk \to reiterate their demand for terminating the services of the Punjab Police inspector general.

Litigants, especially those who had come to courts from far-off areas, complained about the strike.

“One of my cousins was picked up over a scuffle with a neighbour,” said Muhammad Hussein Khokhar. “I came for the hearing of his bail application. The case was not heard because lawyers have apparently been on strike five days.”

He said he was a daily wage worker. “I missed a day’s work for the hearing,” he said. “Now I will have to give up work for another day so that I can submit a bail application.”

Azra Bibi, pursuing a property case said, “Lawyers’ boycotts are a major reason why justice is delayed.”

She said her case was close to a verdict and she was expecting a ruling in her favour.

“I have been coming to court every day for the last week, hoping to hear an order,” she said. Azra said she lived in Kabirwala and had to take three buses to Multan.

Talking to The Express Tribune, District Bar Association president Khalid Ashraf said, “We are suffering financial losses because of these strikes but if we don’t protest, who will?”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2015.