KP lawyers ignore strike call over IHC judge removal

PESHAWAR: Most lawyers from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday did not boycott court proceedings after suspension of the strike call of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council by the Pakistan Bar Council to protest the removal of Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui from his office. However, several lawyers even in the provincial capital stayed away from courts. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council had given a strike call on October 13 across the province. As per the statement of the KP Bar Council, it was stated that the meeting declared the Supreme Judicial Council’s decision about removal of senior high court judge in “haphazard manner” is illegal and called a strike for October 15 in the whole province.

However, on October 13, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) after an appeal by the Peshawar-based lawyer Bashir Ahmad Khan suspended the KP Bar Council strike call and admitted the appeal for a full hearing by issuing a notice to KP Bar Council.