Pakistan People’s Party-backed Yaseen Azad was elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Saturday by defeating the Hamid Khan group-backed candidate, Justice (r) Rasheed A Rizvi by 93 votes.
This was one of the most fiercely contested elections and it indicated that the slogans of the pro-judiciary lawyers’ movement had lost their charm for majority of the black coats in the country. Azad enjoyed the support of a large number of lawyers attached with the PPP, including Senator Babar Awan, outgoing SCBA president Asma Jahangir, former SCBA president Ali Ahmed Kurd and Khurram Latif Kosa.
He won the election securing 954 votes while Rizvi got 861 votes. The voters from Lahore played a decisive role in the polls because around 1,050 of 20,251 voters of the SCBA belonged to Punjab’s capital. The seat of the SCBA secretary was won by Aslam Zaar of the professional group and three seats of vice provincial presidents were also won by candidates backed by the Hamid Khan group.
Rizvi, the losing candidate, alleged that all sorts of support were extended to Azad by the Punjab Governor’s House as well as the Presidency. Despite the fact that the Hamid Khan group was badly jolted by its second consecutive defeat in the SCBA elections, it still showed a major shift in the bar trends as last year Asma had defeated Ahmed Awais by just 10 votes while Azad had defeated Rizvi by 93 votes.
The Professional Group’s candidates won three of the four seats of provincial vice presidents. The SCBA additional secretary and finance secretary seats were also won by candidates of the Hamid Khan group. Imrana Perveen Baloch was elected Punjab VP with 832 votes, Tahir Chaudhry got 777 votes, Arif Khan won the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa VP, KA Wahab was elected Sindh VP, Jahanzeb Khan Jadoon Balochistan VP, Sardar Majeed was elected additional secretary and Fiaz Ahmed Rana won the seat of finance secretary.
Talking to reporters after the announcement of the results, Azad denied the allegations levelled by his rival and claimed that he did not have any relation with any political party. He said his success was the defeat of those elements in the lawyer community who “sold the judiciary for personal gains”. The newly-elected SCBA president said he would “do politics of the bar instead of indulging in politics”.
Asma, who danced on the beat of drums along with other PPP lawyers during the celebrations, said lawyers had chosen a PPP-backed candidate. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani felicitated Yaseen Azad on becoming the SCBA president.
PPP-backed Yaseen Azad elected SCBA president
