Controversial Kasur lawyer to contest elections on TLYR platform

0
356

–Lawyer Latif Sarra is accused of sabotaging case of Kasur abuse victims for ‘money and fame’

LAHORE: Latif Sarra, a lawyer who has been accused by victims of the 2015 Kasur child sex abuse scandal of sabotaging their case for his own gain, will be a candidate for Khadim Hussain Rizvi’s Tehreek Labaik Ya Rasullulah (TLYR) in Lahore’s NA 123 constituency.

Latif Sarra, an advocate of the Supreme Court, had been one of the first lawyers to step up and take on the case of the victims of the Kasur scandal when the news had broken in 2015. However, recently, letters written by the victims of the scandal to the Chief Justice demanding a retrial have named Sarra as one of the reasons the case has been destroyed.

Back in April, Danish Ali – a victim of the 2015 scandal – had told Pakistan Today that Latif Sarra had taken up their case for the media attention, but would never appear in court and allowed them to be ridiculed and harassed in the courts.

“Our case was picked up by some NGOs and lawyers such as Latif Sarra, however, they would never appear in court and would weaken our case as they were only looking for fame through the case and not to our situation,” he said.

Danish and a number of other victims have written letters to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar asking him to take notice of their case, which they claim have been sabotaged by NGOs, pro bono lawyers and members of the media during the course of the past few years.

The accused Latif Sarra is now set to contest elections from NA 123 from the TLYR platform according to the lawyer for the abuse victims, and election posters baring his face along with that of TLYR chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi have also been making round on social media.

The lawyer, Hassan Niaz, took to twitter on the matter saying “This is Lateef Sarra-Kasur child abuse victims blame him for messing up their case and selling their pain in return for money and power. The whole case was messed up and destroyed by this guy. It is a shame, but not a surprise that he is contesting from the party of Khadim Hussain Rizvi.”