The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) will go on strike and boycott court proceedings today (Saturday) against the killing of former Sindh Bar Council vice chairman Ali Muhammad Dahri. Holding a press conference on Friday, PbBC Vice Chairman Lehrasab Khan Gondal said that the federal and provincial governments have failed to protect the life and property of citizens and the country is at the mercy of dacoits and terrorists who are taking lives of innocent people without fear of the law enforcement agencies. Flanked by other PbBC officer-bearers, Lehrasab said that lawyers of Punjab, expressing solidarity with lawyers of Sindh, will observe a complete strike today and not appear in any court, be it is civil, session or benches of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi. “The PbBC demands the government arrest killers of Advocate Dahri without further delay and give them exemplary punishment according to law of the land,” Lehrasab said.
PbBC officer-bearers expressed condolence with the family of the deceased. The PbBC vice chairman said that anxiety and distrust is growing in the lawyers’ community due to dubious working of the National Judicial Commission after it started preferring district and sessions judges over senior lawyers for appointment as judges of the LHC. He said that in the past lawyers were preferred over sessions judges but now the Judicial Commission has reduced the ratio of lawyers and increased the ratio of session judges for reasons best known to the commission, sending ripples of depression and concern through the legal community. Lehrasab said that for better relations between the bar and bench, it is essential that more lawyers are appointed as judges of the LHC in order to provide speedy justice to litigants.
He also urged the government to implement judgments of the courts to establish the rule of law in the country and save society from moving into a state of possible anarchy. SCBA condemns Dahri’s killing: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir and Secretary Qamar Zaman Qureshi on Friday condemned the murder of Ali Muhammad Dahri. “The situation is becoming simply harrowing,” Asma and Qamar said in a joint statement. They said that the assassination of Dahri appears to be a case of target killing, which took place in Nawabshah, the home town of Dahri, and so far motive of the murder is not clear nor has any specific person been identified in this regard.
The SCBA president and secretary deplored the fast deteriorating law and order situation and called upon the provincial and federal governments to address the problem as a priority, as the lives and property of the people are not safe. They pointed out that lawyers went missing, were kidnapped for ransom and murdered but the perpetrators were never brought to justice.