LAHORE: After the Lahore High Court (LHC) issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Multan Bar President Sher Zaman and Secretary Qaiser Abbas, in a contempt of court case, on Monday, protesting lawyers began creating a ruckus outside the court, according to reports.
A group of Multan bar lawyers damaged public property, broke the gates which the chief justice was supposed to use, and also broke the walkthrough gates.
They tortured a policeman and then blocked the Mall Road in protest. Mall Road around the LHC looked like a battleground, with lawyers pelting stones at the policemen, and the policemen using water cannons to disperse the crowd.
All roads leading to LHC were closed by the authorities.
The protesters demanded the court to take back its orders for the arrest of Sher Zaman Qureshi and Qaiser Abbas, as well as the revoking of their licenses. The larger bench of the LHC had also declared the two to be ineligible to appear in any court of the province.
Before the proceedings, Rangers had been appointed outside the court, alongside a number of police officials.
In the ensuing clash between lawyers and the security personnel, several lawyers have been injured; the injured have been shifted to Mayo Hospital.
LHCBA Secretary Saeed Ahmed Rawn was also wounded in the police shelling.
According to details, however, Sher Zaman Qureshi managed to escape on a motorcycle.
A press conference was later held outside Judges’ gate at Mall Road.
It was announced that the lawyers are going to carry out a province-wide strike on Tuesday.
The president of LHCBA, Ch Zulfiqar Ali, said that it is our right to take action against the lawyers and said that the lawyers themselves are responsible for the present situation. He said that we stressed for the matter to be taken to the Bar Council.
Punjab Bar Council said that no lawyer will be present tomorrow, from district to the Supreme Court.
On July 24, Multan Bar President Sher Zaman and Qaiser Abbas had behaved rudely with Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan during the proceedings of a case. The chief justice took notice of the incident and withdrew judges from the Multan Bench of the Lahore High Court.
On July 26, the LHC chief justice restored the functioning of the Multan Bench.