Professional Group’s Rashid Rizvi elected new SCBA president

LAHORE: Hamid Khan-led Professional Group finally broke six-year victory streak of Independent Group led by Asma Jahangir in the Supreme Court Bar Association’s  election as former’s candidate Rashid Rizvi notched up the covetous slot of president by defeating Farooq Naik, former law minister and a close aide of former president Asif Zardari, by 229 votes.

According to unofficial result, Rizvi grabbed 1,289 votes while his opponent Naik secured 1,060 votes.  Multiple factors contributed to Naik’s defeat and the main factor, according to political pandits, was Naik’s close association with Zardari and lawyers questioned his contribution to bar and services for the profession. Secondly, he had no roots in the bar as he was not a frequent visitor to the bar.  

It all started in 2010 when Asma Jahangir entered bar politics and contested the presidential election from the platform of Independent Group against Hamid Khan’s group which was considered unassailable at that time because Hamid was in the forefront of successful lawyers’ movement for restoration of deposed judges and had become a godfather of the bar. 

It was a great challenge for Asma but she accepted it and achieved what was a distant dream at that time and became first woman head of the top bar of the country. Her victory paved ways for other candidates and the group remained undefeated for six continuous years from 2010-15. In 2010, Asma defeated Professional Group’s Ahmed Awaais by 43 votes.  In 2011, Yasin Azad beat Professional group’s Rasheed Rizvi. In 2012, Hamid Khan’s candidate Ahmed Awais lost to Mian Israrul Haq of Independent Group. In 2013, Kamran Murtaza defeated Amanullah Kanrani of professional group and in 2014 Fazal-e-Haq Abbasi defeated the Professional’s Abdul Sattar Khan and in 2015 Syed Ali Zafar won president’s seat by defeating Syed Kaleed Khurshid of Professional group.

Emergence of Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf as a political strength on national level has also affected the bar’s politics to certain extent. Hamid Khan’s affiliation with PTI put him into trouble as PML-N stopped backing his candidates in the Bar associations’ election.         

Rizvi was supported by lawyers affiliated to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami and a thin number of PML-N’s lawyers’ faction. Lawyer’s wings of PPP, PML-Q, ANP and JUI-F backed Naek. A majority of PML-N lawyers also supported him.

Rizvi had been president of Sindh High Court Bar Association four times and a sitting member of Pakistan Bar Council. He is a former judge of the Sindh High Court and was sacked for not taking oath under PCO in 2000 promulgated by Pervez Musharraf.

It was Rizvi’s second attempt for the presidential slot as he lost 2011 election to Yasin Azad of Independent Group by 93 votes. Aftab Bajwa of the Professional group also notched the slot of secretary. He obtained 1060 votes against Safdar Hussain Tarar of Independent group. Tarar got 945 votes.

Voting began at 9 am morning (Tuesday) and ended at 5 pm. Special security arrangements were in place across Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Multan for the polls. Official results are expected to be announced in a week’s time.

Soon after announcement of result the wild celebration erupted among the supporters of winning candidates as they started dancing hilariously on drumbeats.