Lawyers boycott courts

PESHAWAR: The lawyers in the provincial metropolis on Friday stayed away from courts in protest against the alleged torture by police on one of their colleagues.
The lawyer associations, including the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and the Peshawar Bar Association, held a joint general body meeting on the issue at the Peshawar Bar Room.
Through a resolution, the lawyers bodies asked the provincial government and provincial police officer to register a first information report (FIR) against the police personnel and arrest them by 11am today (Saturday), or else the lawyers would not only expand the strike to the entire province but would also take up the issue with the Pakistan Bar Council.
The lawyers’ bodies had given two-day strike in the provincial metropolis after the police officials in Pakha Ghulam police post allegedly tortured a lawyer, Faqeerullah. The PHCBA president, Muhammad Fida Gul, said that the lawyers had given a deadline to the provincial government and police chief for taking action against the police involved in torture of a lawyer, failing which the lawyers would start a province-wide strike.
“No police officers have contacted lawyer leaders on the issue. Tomorrow the police chief and provincial government will be responsible if any untoward situation is created,” the PHCBA president warned. A former PHCBA president Abdul Latif Afridi, Peshawar Bar Association president Ismail Khalil and others also addressed the protest meeting.