The entire Lahore district judiciary on Monday observed a strike to protest against poor security arrangements at sessions and other courts premises in the provincial headquarters, which caused the murder of Zeeshan Butt and Imran Butt in the witness box in court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Haji Ahmed on Saturday. All judges of the district judiciary left court work and stayed in their chambers the whole day instead of courtrooms.
Judges only heard cases of urgent nature such as habeas corpus and bail matters in their chambers. To express solidarity with the judiciary, the legal fraternity of Lahore also observed a strike and vowed to continue it until their demands were accepted regarding arrangements of foolproof security in court premises in Lahore. Representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) and Lahore Bar Association (LBA) held a joint press conference at the Aiwan-e-Adl Library. LBA President Shahzad Hassan Sheikh said that lawyers would continue the strike and if the Punjab government did not improve security measurements, further strikes would be observed in this regard.
He said that the LBA has started a campaign against those people who are not lawyers but wear black coats and appear in different courts as lawyers. Shahzad said that if a lawyer pleaded for the murderer of the two accused standing in the witness box, they will not be spared. Earlier, a lawyers’ delegation called on Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who assured them of fulfillment of their demands regarding foolproof security measurements in court premises on an emergency basis.