Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir on Tuesday said armed men from all political parties were involved in extortion and target killings on the roads of Karachi, making the city a living hell. “The heads of all the parties would have to sit together to find solution to the crisis of Karachi where people of all parties were playing a game of death,” she said.
Addressing a press conference in the SCBA office at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry, Asma said that in a democratic setup, only a political solution should be found, adding a military operation as was being proposed by some quarters would be opposed by lawyers. She was of the view that the military’s arrival in Karachi would suspend fundamental rights.
She feared if the army came to Karachi, the military operation might spread to Hyderabad, Sukkur and other places. “We will not support military courts which deny basic human rights while indiscriminate killing of people will increase in an emergency-like situation under the army,” Asma said.
Mentioning a landmark project being started by the Supreme Court Bar during her tenure, Asma said the SCBA was constructing a “centre of excellence” in Islamabad over an eight-kanal piece of land at a cost of Rs 2 billion to help lawyers in their quest for justice. She said the modern complex would be used for international research of law and justice in the country.
She said there would be well-furnished rooms in the complex for senior lawyers coming from all over the country to the Supreme Court to pursue their cases. It would initiate a new era of interaction among senior lawyers, she hoped. Asma announced that a high-profile three-day seminar would be held under the auspices of the Supreme Court Bar from September 9 to be attended by lawyers and leaders of bars associations from various countries, including presidents of Supreme Court Bar of India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other SAARC states.
She added lawyers from the US and the UK would also attend the seminar.
