On returning from India with a delegation of 209 lawyers, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president, Yasin Azad, was given a tough time by Vice President SCBA Imrana Perveen Baloch at a press conference for not including her in the delegation only because she belonged to pro-judiciary Professional Group of Hamid Khan.
Imrana disrupted the press conference, making Azad defensive by her full throat speech against the bias of PPP backed SCBA president. Speaking in the face of Azad, the angry lady alleged that he (Azad) took with him to India only the pro-PPP lawyers intentionally and dropped pro-judiciary lawyers and members of the bar including herself. She said it is shameful that the delegation members instead of promoting a good image of Pakistan spoiled it by indulging in very objectionable activities. She questioned the sense of what Deputy Attorney General Khurshid Khan of Peshawar did by polishing shoes of Sikhs at Gurudwara Rakabganj in New Delhi under the guise of ‘penance’ for cruel acts of Taliban against minorities.
Azad took time to defend his position and then managed to brush the debate aside by saying it was the personal action of the deputy attorney as he had separated himself from the delegation on reaching New Delhi. However, Azad promised if a requisition is filed before the bar against Khurshid Khan, a needful disciplinary action will be taken against him and he will be given show cause notice.
Azad denied the allegation that he did not include pro judiciary lawyers in delegation saying that Indian Embassy refused to give visa to 24 lawyers and bar members and Imrana was one of them. He said, “It was the discretion of the Indian embassy to issue visas to any person so how could he as a president of the bar be held responsible for it?”
When the temperature cooled at the press conference, Azad talked to the media about his visit to India in detail, terming it as a positive interaction with the Indian Bar members and the lawyers’ community. He said our delegation discussed with the Indian legal community unresolved issues between the two countries and requested them that they should make efforts to pressurize their government to move towards solutions of the pestering problems of the two nations. He said he represented Pakistan at the seminar at Chandigarh Bar Association and other cities and stressed on the need of peace in the region by solving unresolved issues of the two nations. Azad said most of the Indian lawyers also agreed that budgets of the two countries were being spent on defence due to estranged relations which was the main cause of massive poverty on both sides of the borders.
About Kashmir and water disputes he tried to convince the legal community in India that both of the issues should be settled down now amicably so that the region may progress like the rest of the world. He condemned the target killing of 35 people in Karachi including former president of Malair Bar Karachi and his son. He urged the Sindh Government to arrest the killers and establish writ of the government in the restive port city.
LHCBA gives reception to new LHC judges: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) on Wednesday gave a reception to the five newly appointed additional judges of the Lahore High Court which includes a lady-judge who took oath of office on Tuesday.
The new judges Justice Abdul Sami Khan, Justice Ibad-ur-Rehman Lodhi, Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Shaikh Shahid Waheed were given a reception by the bar on their elevation to the LHC as judges from amongst the lawyers.
Almost all LHC judges including CJ Sh Azmat Saeed attended the function and together celebrated the induction of the new judges at the LHC which has always been short of judges. It is pertinent to mention here that the strength of judges at LHC is 39 now, with 21 seats still vacant. LHCBA President, Shehram Sarwar, along with other members of his cabinet, welcomed the judges when they arrived at the premises. The bar president congratulated new judges on their elevation and assured them cooperation of bar in better working of judiciary.
The judges spent time with the bars members and lawyers, and discussed the ways and means to boost working relations between bar and bench for dispensation of justice to the masses.
Among other senior judges Justice Umer Ata Bandial, Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Chaudhry Shahid Saeed, and LHC registrar Sohail Nasir were present at the reception.
