Lawyers looted dead colleague’s property before his body went cold, literally

The deceased lawyer’s chambers, house taken over by fellow lawyers after hearing news of his death

Islamabad District Bar intervenes, seals the chamber; says it plans to auction off the disputed chamber

At around 7 pm on Monday, Supreme Court Advocate Syed Anwaar Shah died. At 7:30 pm, a group of advocates broke into his chambers and took possession of the property. They installed their own name plates and tore down the board that had the names of Anwaar and his associates on it.

Since Anwaar Ahmed Shah, a reputed senior advocate of the Supreme Court died issueless – his wife had also passed away in 2000 – many parties had their eyes set on his chambers in the district courts which is situated on a prime location and is worth millions. Immediately after the news of his demise reached the district courts, some black coats reached the chambers and installed themselves in. His residence in Sector F-7 has also been taken over by hoodlums, and the family servant have been expelled.

Sources confided in Pakistan Today that a powerful lobby consisting of many sitting and former members of the Islamabad District Bar Council and Islamabad High Court Bar Council are personally backing the lawyers who broke the locks and tore off the boards.

The Islamabad District Bar, currently presided over by Syed Muhammad Tayyub when informed of the development took action and immediately got the chambers vacated, sealing the premises and announcing a plan to auction the chambers.

“Syed Anwaar Shah left behind no survivors. The chambers is in the bar’s custody,” Islamabad Bar Association President Syed Muhammad Tayyub said, and added, “We will auction it off. We’ve taken possession of the chambers and have locked the place. There have been more than 50 claimants. In the past two days, I’ve received calls from all over Pakistan related to the vacant chambers. Lawyers from as far as Lahore have been calling me and asking about the chambers. Islamabad District Courts suffer from a paucity of space, there are more than 500 advocates asking for the chambers. We plan to remap the chambers and turn it into four or five chambers to accommodate as many young lawyers as possible.”

“The incident sheds light on how low our legal community has sunk; we are trained to facilitate courts of law to dispense justice but we have started to act on the basest of impulses,” said a senior advocate.

Islamabad district courts are situated in F-8 Markaz main market of the sector. Every year many newly-graduated advocates start their practice in city courts; however, at present the bar suffers from acute shortage of space. Every now and then there are rumors about the moving of the district courts to a new place but no such plan has seen the light of day yet.