Rawalpindi lawyers observe strike against SC decision

Rawalpindi: On the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) call, lawyers belonging to Rawalpindi Bar Association (RBA), on Friday held a strike against the Supreme Court decision to abolish powers of justice of the peace/session courts to hear writ petition under sections of 22-A and 22-B (Registration of (FIR).

A large number of litigants faced mental torture and distress due to strike of lawyers in this regard. According to background of the issue on 11 March, a meeting of the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa in which the committee abolished the powers of session courts regarding hearing a writ petition of 22-A and 22-B (Registration of FIR).

A notification in this regard issued by The Supreme Court (NJPMC) says that public will contact station house officer (SHO) concerned or superintendent of police (SP) to register FIR and would no be able to file any writ petition according to sections 22-A and 22-B (Registration of (FIR) in session court.

To record their protest demonstration against this decision, Rawalpindi lawyers did not appear in courts. The Rawalpindi Bar Association (RBA) President Syed Tanvir Sohail Shah Advocate said that all bar associations in Punjab are on strike against this decision. The lawyers of Balochistan, KP and Sindh also announced strike against this decision, he said. He said that I have called an emergency meeting of all bar associations in which we will decide future plan of action for cancellation of this notification. He has strongly opposed this notification. It is worth mentioning here that hundreds of litigants faced mental agony due to lawyers’ strike.