The traders’ community of Islamabad on Thursday decided to march towards the Supreme Court on February 18 (Monday). They alleged that the district bar and bench were adamant in their mission to deprive citizens of playing grounds situated in sector F-8. The traders of F-8 Markaz on observed a complete strike against ruling of a district judge which allowed lawyers practicing at district courts to build their chambers at a football ground, a move which was strongly opposed by local traders.
When lawyers came to establish their chambers at the ground, traders put up a strong resistance which turned into a brawl that left over 25 people injured. Following this incident, both parties observed a complete strike on Thursday.
The traders observed strike against what they believed was an illegal move by the lawyers to grab public ground. On the other hand, the lawyers alleged that the traders were being backed by the local administration to create hurdles in the establishment of their chambers.
On the other, the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which was supposed to oversee the matter, said that it was an “illegal encroachment” on the part of the lawyers.
A spokesman for CDA, Ramzan Sajid, told Pakistan Today that land allocated for ground could not be used for any other purpose. He said that slight encroachments had already decreased the value of the ground.
“We are going to take up the issue with lawyers’ associations and other concerned people; we will not let anyone encroach upon the ground,” he added.
The traders of F-8 Markaz were of the view that district court’s lawyers had been using chief justice’s name for encroaching upon public property. They requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice on this issue.
“We will not allow anyone to grab public property. The traders’ community of the city is going to stage a march and sit in front of Supreme Court on Monday. What type of decision is this? We will protest the civil judge’s decision at every forum,” said Qamar Abbasi, president of F-8 Markaz Traders’ Association.
On the other hand, the lawyers were of the view that they had a court order to establish chambers on the said land.
“If the CDA has no objection to the construction of chambers then nobody will be allowed to stop lawyers,” said Syed Javid Shah, former president of District Court Bar Associations.
