100 lawyers block Mall Road for traffic
LAHORE: About 100 delinquent lawyers on Monday put the city’s traffic to a standstill, as they blocked Lahore’s Mall Road to protest against non-bailable arrest warrants of Lahore High Court Bar Association’s Multan chapter President Sher Zaman Qureshi.
Thousands of commuters got stranded on various roads and streets due to the lawyers’ protest and sit-in on the Mall Road. The roads affected by the traffic gridlock included Queens Road, Mazang, Temple Road, Davis Road, Garhi Shahu and some side roads near the Mall.
The citizens trapped in the gridlock said that no one had told them about the traffic mess on the Mall Road. Talking to Pakistan Today, they said that they had to face huge difficulty in reaching their workplaces and offices. Students and their parents also suffered due to blockage of roads. Huge queues of vehicles were also seen on side roads and even streets as traffic continued at snail’s pace. People living in Mozang, Anarkali and Temple Road also faced issues as side roads and thoroughfares were blocked as well.
An LHC bench, while hearing the contempt of court cases against Sher Zaman and Qaiser Abbas, had ordered for their arrests and declared their licenses revoked. Subsequently, disgruntled lawyers broke an iron-grill gate inside the court, chanted slogans against the chief justice and used abusive language against him.
However, police and rangers personnel thwarted their attempt to create further ruckus inside the court.
Supporters of Sher Zaman Qureshi later came on the Mall Road and blocked it for vehicular traffic. Interestingly, on one hand, the lawyers were shouting religious slogans while on the other, using foul language and raising derogatory slogans against the chief justice. Lawyers contesting next elections of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), the Lahore Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar also joined them to prove their ‘leadership faculties’ and their ‘services’ for the legal fraternity.
The blockage of Mall Road led to traffic pressure on all roads of the city. The police also added to the commuters’ problems by erecting two containers and creating a two-kilometre-wide radius for lawyers’ protest. Talking to Pakistan Today, the protesting lawyers said that they would block the entry of LHC CJ from the gate situated on Mall and their sit-in protest will continue until the removal of the CJ and withdrawal of non-bailable arrest warrants against Sher Zaman.
Sher Zaman, along with Qaiser Abbas, rudely behaved with Justice Qasim Khan on July 24 when he was holding proceedings of a case related to a mosque falling on the route of a government project in Vehari Chowk. They had vandalised and ransacked the court premises and broken the name plate of the judge outside his court.
Meanwhile, Lahore High Court Bar Association Secretary Aftab Bajwa has announced that the lawyers will observe strike from Tuesday and block Mall Road between 8 am to 4 pm to protest ‘unjust’ court ruling. He said that no lawyer will appear before the court.
There are reports that lawyers in Multan also staged protest rallies and held the symbolic funeral of LHC CJ on roads.