Protest if military courts re-established: LHCBA

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) has announced taking to the streets if military courts are established again in the country.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the bar leaders said lawyers would strongly oppose to any unconstitutional move to re-establish the military courts and hold countrywide protests.

The LHCBA president Rana Zia Abdul Rehman said the lawyers had also opposed to the establishment of the military courts when the parliament introduced an amendment to the Constitution in 2015.

He said the political parties sitting in the parliament had violated their oaths by endorsing the establishment of the military courts so did the Supreme Court judges by dismissing petitions of the bar associations against the military courts.

The LHCBA former president Ahmad Awais said establishing military courts could never be a solution to the terrorism but a strong intelligence network of the law enforcement agencies. He said weak intelligence network was the main reason behind the terrorist activities. He said the legal fraternity would not accept any excuse for defacing the Constitution by establishing the military courts.

Pakistan Bar Council member Hamid Khan, former secretary of SCBA Raja Zulqarnain, former president LHCBA Shafqat Mahmood Chohan and sitting secretary of LHCBA Anas Ghazi also spoke on the occasion.