Lawyers across the country went on a strike against the Judicial Policy Making Committee’s (JPMC) decision regarding the clearing of the backlog until December 31.
The strike call was given by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC). The council said the committee had directed all subordinate courts across the country to dispose of pending cases until December 31, adding that the deadline was not acceptable to them as millions of cases could not cleared within a month.
It said all the judges of subordinate courts were clearing the backlog in haste which ran contrary to norms of justice.
The PBC appealed to chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the JMPC’s decision as haste could lead to flawed decisions.
The Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Malir Bar Association announced going on a strike with lawyers boycotting court proceedings in Faisalabad as well. Clients hailing from remote areas had to face a lot of trouble in terms of loss of time and money with the courts being shut.
The lawyers through their boycott of the courts gave the judges a message that the JMPC’s decision was not acceptable to them.
However, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Omar Atta Bandial and other judges kept performing their duties despite a request by the deputy attorney generals asking them to stop working.
At the inception of the hearing of dual office case, the deputy attorney generals requested the court to not perform its function as lawyers were on strike. The chief justice said this was the lawyers’ strike and not that of the judges.
