The Sindh Bar Council on Sunday announced boycott of court proceedings on Monday (today) against the 26th and 27th amendments and functioning of the Federal Constitutional Court across the province.
SBC Vice Chairman Shafqat Rahim Rajput and Executive Committee Chairman Mohammad Saeed Abbasi said that legal fraternity had protested against both the controversial amendments and establishment of the federal constitutional court in a recently held lawyers’ convention in Sukkur.
They said the legal fraternity believed that both the amendments had undermined the authority of the Supreme Court and weakened the Constitutional structure. They requested the chief justice of Pakistan to urgently fix pending petitions concerning the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments and decide these petitions within one week as these matters directly affected judicial independence, federalism and the constitutional balance.
They said that as per the lawyers’ convention and in protest against the disputed amendments and functioning of the Federal Constitutional Court, the SBC would boycott court proceedings across the province on Monday.
They added that if the Supreme Court would not hear and decide the petitions with regard to the 26th and 27th amendments within a week, the bar council would decide its next course of action.
They clarified that only urgent bail applications or extremely urgent matters shall proceed and no routine work or regular cases would be taken up during the lawyers’ strike today. They requested all the lawyers not to appear before any court for except for such urgent matters.