Top leaders of lawyers’ movement drift apart

LAHORE – Two top leaders of the lawyers’ movement Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan (leader of Pakistan Peoples Party) and Hamid Khan (leader of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf) are backing different candidates for president seat in the upcoming election of the Lahore Bar Association, The Nation has learnt.

Aitzaz Ahsan is supporting Tariq Javed Chaudhry while Hamid Khan has fielded Rana Ziaur Rehman for the top slot.

Negotiations between both the sides are underway to resolve the issue and there is a possibility of fielding a consensus candidate to avoid a divide in votes, ruling out that there are differences between the two leaders of the movement. Aitzaz is backing Tariq Javed due to his (Tariq) contribution in the lawyers’ movement. Tariq was also arrested from LHCBA’s premises during police crackdown on November 5 last year. He spent 20 days behind the bar before his release on bail.
Interestingly, both Tariq and Rana had supported Ali Ahmed Kurd in the recent the Supreme Court Bar Association elections and are wooing the voters by showing their close adherence to the lawyers’ movement.

Senior lawyers Abid Hassan Minto and Mian Israr-ul-Haq are also backing Tariq Javed Chaudhry besides having the support of a large number of other lawyers.
Rana, who is sitting member of the Punjab Bar Council is solely relying on group’s votes.

On the other hand Khosa Group and the People’s Lawyers Forum, after facing a crushing defeat in SCBA, neither have fielded a candidate nor have decided to whom they would support in the LBA election.

As no lawyer wants to tag himself as a government-backed candidate might be the reason the Khosa Group has fielded not candidate yet.

Analysts say the combined efforts of PLF and dissidents of Hamid Khan’s Professional Group like members Pakistan Bar Council Ashraf Wahla, Ramzan Chaudhry and Kazim Khan could not secure a victory that had put the likely candidates in dilemma. (The Nation)

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