MULTAN City News

Litigants suffer as lawyers continue strike
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: Hundreds of litigants are suffering as lawyers’ strike entered the fifth consecutive day here.
Lawyers observed a complete strike against the government for not terminating the IGP Punjab and arrest of the Sialkot DPO in connection with the Daska incident. On Friday, lawyers boycotted court proceedings and took out a rally from district bar to Kutchery Chowk. The litigants, especially the old and women, were of the view that the work should not be suspended at courts and lawyers’ protest should continue to force the government to accept their genuine demands. “One of my cousins is jailed on the charges of a minor scuffle, and we wanted to file his bail plea but could not do so owing to lawyers’ strike”, Muhammad Hussain Khokhar said. He said he himself was a vender and the strike had affected his financial position to a greater level. Azra Bibi, who comes from a far-flung area of Kabirwala and reaches Multan district courts after changing three buses, said she was pursuing a property case and her case was at its final stages and was expecting court decision in her favour but lawyers’ strike was main hurdle for her to get justice. Several litigants said that they also were suffering due to non-availability of lawyers. They urged to government to look into the matter.
Multan District Bar Association president Khalid Ashraf said no doubt they themselves were suffering from financial losses because of strikes, but if they halted their struggle then who would raise voice against injustices. Former DBA president Mumtaz Noor Tangra said strikes were not hurdle in dispensation of justice. He said their boycott or strikes were not planned but are based on day-to-day happenings. Other lawyers said how justice inside courts could be delivered when security personnel kill lawyers and no action was taken against police officers.