A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered immediate release of lawyers arrested on terrorism charges by Jhang Police and sought report about the conduct of Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Jhang who registered cases against them.
The bench also directed police to recover two missing lawyers and produce them before the court on the next date of hearing i.e. August 2.
As the proceedings started at the LHC on Monday and about three hundred gathered inside and outside the courtroom, shouting slogans against the DPO Jhang for playing rough with the black-coats. The bench directed police for not making further arrests in the matter.
The bench comprising Justice Sh Azmat Saeed and Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh passed the orders on an application filed by Maharam Ali through Muhammad Azhar Siddique, Rai Bashir and others against the arrest of 38 lawyers by Jhang Police on charges of terrorism.
Assistant Advocate General Punjab Shan Gul appeared before the court and said that all lawyers had been released except Zafar Iqbal, Qalandar Hussain and their two clerks who got bail from the anti-terrorism court Faisalabad at 9am on Monday. He assured the court of their release.
SCBA warns government on targeted killings: The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Monday, registering a strong protest against targeted killings of innocent citizens, demanded the government arrest assassinators of Saleem Khan Jadoon, brother of ex- vice president of SCBA Balochistan Jahanzeb Khan Jadoon, within the next 72 hours. SCBA office bearers and senior lawyers in a press conference held at the SCBA’s Lahore Registry said the government had failed to protect the life and property of its citizens and must resign. Giving an ultimatum to the government, SCBA Secretary Qamar Zaman Qureshi said, “If the killers of Saleem are not arrested within the next 72 hours, the SCBA will be compelled to take the right action and will not refrain from coming on the roads against the government.”