Lawyers continue protest, bar media persons from reporting

LAHORE: The supporters of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Multan chapter President Sher Zaman Qureshi, continued their protest on Tuesday against issuance of arrest warrants for their leader.

They restricted media persons from reporting their protest for, what they claimed, biased reporting of the Monday’s events. Meanwhile, Multan Regional Police Officer Sultan Azam Temuri told a larger bench that several raids conducted for the arrest of Mr Qureshi remained unsuccessful.

He said the alleged contemnor had gone underground to avoid arrest. He sought more time for the arrest of the lawyer leader. The bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah adjourned hearing of contempt proceedings until September 8, directing the police to produce ensure arrest of the accused. Advocate Syed Qaiser Abbas Kazmi, the other accused, attended the proceedings.

Unlike Monday, the lawyers contained their protest inside the high court and did not take to roads or vandalism. However, in their speeches, they criticised media for what they alleged as 'biased’ reporting of the other day’s events when lawyers had clashed with security personnel and broke past the judges’ gate of the LHC leading the force to fire water-cannon and teargas to disperse the protesters.

The lawyers openly hurled abuses at media persons and restricted cameramen from filming their protest. The hostile conditions forced the reporters and cameramen to leave the place. Statistics released by the high court showed that the strike call given by the LHCBA was not welcomed by majority of the members as attendance of lawyers in cases fixed before different courts was recorded more than 95 percent. On the other side, arrangements for the security of the chief justice block had been beefed up as personnel closed the entry points by putting containers in addition to iron-grill gates.

Personnel of Rangers and anti-riot force were deployed on the high court premises to maintain law and order. However, the protesting lawyers unlike previous day opted to remain calm and did not indulge in any clash with the security personnel. They kept chanting slogans against the chief justice and media.

They also slammed some senior lawyers for criticising the protest and the stance taken by LHCBA Multan president. Some insiders said the LHCBA was planning to ban entry of those members who criticised the protests.