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WEEKLY
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| SCBA presidential poll |
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Two nationalist lawyers to face each other on Wednesday
Monday, October 26, 2009
Ghulam Dastageer
PESHAWAR: About 2,200 members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) across the country will decide the fate of two contestants from the NWFP for the office of president on Wednesday.
The Malgari Wakeelan, an organisation of nationalist lawyers affiliated to the ruling Awami National Party (ANP), has failed to field a consensus candidate. Both the contestants — Barrister Baachaa and Qazi Muhammad Anwar — are affiliated with the Malgari Wakeelan.
The position of the SCBA president rotates among the provinces and this time it is the turn of the Frontier province to lead the top bar association of the country.The voting will be held at the Peshawar High Court building and NWFP Bar Council Vice Chairperson Farooq Khan will perform the duties of presiding officer.
The top leadership of Malgari Wakeelan has extended full espousal to Barrister Baachaa as Abdul Lateef Afridi has embarked upon a full-fledged electioneering for him and has visited lawyers in Quetta, Karachi and Lahore to muster support for him. While Qazi Muhammad Anwar also claims that a major portion of the ANP’s lawyers’ wing has assured support to him in the election.
Qazi Anwar would be facing tough contest at least in NWFP for another unfavourable factor because Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) President Syed Muhammad Atiq Shah, who is also a prominent leader of the lawyer wing of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in NWFP, has thrown his weight behind Barrister Baachaa.
In addition, Lateef Khosa, Malik Qayyum and Akram Sheikh groups are also backing Barrister Baachaa, who has been in jail because of his beliefs and is known throughout the country for his witty letters to the editor in the English newspapers.
Nevertheless, Qazi Anwar would mainly be banking on the support of the lawyers of the Punjab because he enjoys the support of the Hamid Khan group. Out of around 2,200 votes of the SCBA, the share of NWFP lawyers is only 185, which is not even 10 per cent of the total. The Punjab vote would play a decisive role in the election as its share in the SCBA is over 50 per cent.
Malgari Wakeelan leader Abdul Lateef Afridi had tried to field a consensus candidate and had called a meeting at the bar room of the Peshawar High Court some time back. But Qazi Anwar was in no mood to withdraw from the contest and the meeting was inconclusive.
Qazi Anwar categorically stated that election should be held because it would help augment the process of democracy. He said he was not in favour of any consensus candidate “because in the past every time I was on the receiving end.”As in recent years, this time too the outcome of the SCBA election may be decided on the basis of sincerity to the lawyers’ movement.
The opponents of Qazi Anwar say that though he actively participated in the lawyers’ movement, but failed to follow the principled stand after starting to appear before the judges who had taken oath under Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of November 3, 2007. In his defence, Qazi Anwar has been arguing that he did this following the decision of the Pakistan Bar Council. His detractors are, however, of the opinion that until then the PHCBA had not decided to end the boycott of the PCO judges.
On the other hand, Barrister Baachaa has been pointing out that he never appeared before any PCO judge and his sincerity and affiliation to the lawyers’ movement was beyond doubt. But the support of Khosa group may prove counterproductive for Barrister Baachaa. Certain members of this group may opt to cast votes against him or abstain from voting for the slot of president. Lateef Khosa was considered a major hurdle in the way of the restoration of deposed judges of superior court, who were reinstated on March 16, 2009 in the wake of the lawyers’ long march backed by political workers.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
