ISLAMABAD – Taking a huge delegation of her favourite members from the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and ignoring 22, President Asma Jehangir will participate in Hindu festival of “Holi”in India. “Bring a pair of rough clothes to wear for the “holi” day which falls on the weekend. The colour could spoil your regular clothes”, Asma Jehangir instructed the huge delegation of 138 members of SCBA before leaving for India on Wednesday to participate in a seminar at Jaipur (India), commencing on March 18.
The topics of the seminar include, “The role of the lawyer in strengthening democratic institutions in India and Pakistan” and “Application of International law in domestic jurisdiction and Public Interest Legislation-Strengthens and weakness”. The delegation left for India through Wagah border however, leaving behind sharp criticism on the part of other 22 members of the Bar who were dropped from the Indian tour.
The information for the visiting delegation (Information for travelers to India) includes special instructions for the delegation to bring along with a pair of rough clothes to wear for holi. The SCBA president chose to take along her 138 like-minded people (Members of the Bar) to India, ignoring 22 who opposed her in the elections on the pretext that their applications were rejected by the Indian High Commission in New Delhi.
“There were many mistakes in the applications submitted by 22 members of the Bar for the Indian visa,” Saliheen Mughal, SCBA Additional Secretary told reporters quoting Asma Jehangir. He however did not rule out any other possible reasons for this and said that he opposed the visit during the meeting held in November in Lahore.
“It’s a sight scenes tour rather than a meaningful and purposeful result-oriented participation in a conference on legal issues,” Mughal said adding that he was the first person to oppose the visit. He said it was not conducive to visit India with such a huge delegation adding that the way the Muslims were being treated there and the way people in Kashmir were subjected to atrocities was despicable.
SCBA member and former President of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Rawalpindi Bench Sardar Asmat Ullah rejected the reasons given by Asma Jehangir. He said Asma took revenge for her defeat from Rawalpindi-Islamabad during the SCBA elections. “I didn’t come to the expectation of Asma Jehangir so I was dropped from the tour,” said Muhammad Siddique Khan Baloch, another member of the Bar.
Meanwhile Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, senior advocate and former Vice President SCBA strongly condemned the act of Asma Jehangir by dividing the Bar into two groups while keeping most of the members of the Bar in dark and deprived them of touring India. He alleged that Asma Jehangir was acting upon the agenda of the incumbent regime adding that most of her companions were bent upon getting favors from the present government in different forms.
