The Hon’able Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khalil ur Rehman Ramday have been reminding us Pakistanis and more importantly the government the importance of upholding the law and abiding by the decisions of the court. Their own fraternity, i.e. the lawyers have been using brute force, off late, and have been manhandling policemen every now and then for the last 2 years. On Saturday, a team of lawyers beat up policemen in Islamabad against demolition of their chambers by the CDA which were constructed on encroached upon land.

A policeman is also shown being beaten up by lawyers. CJ Sahab, will you take action against the lawyers who are shown in the picture? Qazi Anwer, will your Bar Association call for arrest of these lawyers? Akram Sheikh, will you plead the case of the beaten up lawyers? Ansar Abbasi, will you write a note on this event than just focusing on Bank of Punjab fraud and Babar Awan and Matiullah Jan of Dawn News, will you do a program in “Sawal” on the matter?

Our heads are bowed in shame!

Lawyers break the law again

Dawn, June 13, 2010

ISLAMABAD, June 12: Lawyers of the local courts on Saturday turned violent against the police while protesting the demolition of their chambers by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Holding the police responsible for razing the
structures, the angry lawyers ransacked the offices of senior police officers and detained some of them, police and eyewitnesses told Dawn.

The lawyers also thrashed three policemen, including a subdivisional police officer and the station house officer (SHO) of Margalla.

The police said over 50 lawyers gathered at the edge of Kaghan Road near Margalla police station at around 9:30am to stage a protest against the demolition of their chambers on Friday night.

“About 10 to 12 lawyer’s chambers were illegally constructed in a street adjacent to the Margalla police station,” the police said, adding the owners of the land had lodged complaints with the police and the civic agency against the lawyers. Acting on the complaints, the CDA demolished the chambers, said the police.

On his way to the police station in civilian dress, SHO Margalla Inspector Mohammad Hussain Lasi observed the lawyers blocking the road and approached them. However, when he asked about the reason for their protest, a group of lawyers thrashed him. As a result, he started bleeding from the mouth and ran away. Later, a police reserve was called to avoid any unpleasant incident, said the police.

However, the lawyers marched towards the main offices of the senior police officers and the district administration with their number swelling to over 250, the police said.

Holding sticks and batons, the lawyers jumped the security cordons and entered the premises of the main offices. Later, the black coats broke into the office of SP City Zone and forcibly took SP Saddar Liaquat Ali Malik and Assistant Commissioner Omar Asad hostage, the police said, adding they also broke the furniture of the office and thrashed the SP’s operator Constable Anwar.

After half an hour, the lawyers left the office but on their way to the courts premises they also roughed up Subdivisional Police Officer Shalimar Circle DSP Malik Naeem Iqbal.

When contacted, President Islamabad Bar Association Wajid Gillani claimed that the chambers were built after taking permission from the deputy commissioner.

He alleged that the police, not the CDA, had demolished the chambers at the behest of the owner of a bakery.

He also claimed that the lawyers had gone to the offices to lodge a complaint against the police highhandedness but were mistreated. “The operator of the SP was thrashed when he attacked one of the lawyers with a wireless set,” he claimed.

Mr Gillani said a petition was also filed with the sessions judge against the police and the bakery owner for demolishing the chambers. “The DC has assured us that the chambers will be rebuilt and a judicial inquiry conducted into the incident,” he added.

DC Islamabad Amer Ahmad Ali while talking to Dawn confirmed that he had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and sought the report within three days.

Sources said the DC office had granted permission to the lawyers to build their chambers. But taking advantage of the permission the lawyers encroached on the land.

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