Lawyers in KP boycott courts over new tax policy

PESHAWAR: The lawyers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday observed a complete boycott of court proceedings in protest against the imposition of new taxes.

The strike was called by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council in response to the government’s decision to impose a Rs 500 tax per case and classify lawyers as non-filers under the tax regime.

No lawyer appeared before the courts in Peshawar or any other district in the province. The protest disrupted legal proceedings in all courts, including the Peshawar High Court and subordinate courts.

Senior lawyers, including Peshawar High Court Bar president Ameen-ur-Rehman Yousafzai, General Secretary Ashfaq Ahmad Dauddzai, Peshawar Bar president Qaiser Zaman, general secretary Zahidullah Zahid, Ishaq Ali Qazi, Babar Khan Yousafzai, Yasir Khattak, and Asif Ali Shah, criticised the new tax measures.

They termed the Rs500 per case tax and non-filer categorisation as unacceptable and an attack on the dignity of the legal profession. The protesting lawyers said the tax policy was implemented without any consultation with the legal community and was in violation of constitutional principles.