Lawyers boycott courts

LAHORE: The legal fraternity on Friday observed boycott of courts and protested against the conviction of a lawyer of Jaranwala under Anti-Terrorism Act on charges of injuring a civil judge during open court proceedings by hitting him with a wooden chair.

A general house meeting of Lahore High Court Bar Association jointly addressed by the representatives of different bar associations strongly condemned the conviction of Advocate Imran Manj, expressing serious reservations over the trial proceedings.

The lawyers questioned the registration of the FIR against Manj under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the manner in which the trial court conducted its whole proceedings. They said the defence counsel had not been provided with an ample opportunity of hearing and the trial court announced its verdict in hast. The house noted that the Punjab Bar Council had already taken cognizance of the incident, initiated proceedings against the lawyer and also handed him over to police for legal action. However, it wondered as to how provision of the anti-terrorism law was added to the FIR. The house demanded of the Lahore High Court chief justice to take notice of the situation and set aside the conviction of Advocate Manj exercising its powers to review the decisions of subordinate courts. It announced launch of massive protest demonstrations across the province if the demand was not fulfilled by Monday. An anti-terrorism court on Thursday handed down imprisonment of 18 years to the lawyer under Section 7 of ATA and other provisions of PPC. In the last month incident, the convict had attacked Civil Judge Khalid Mahmood for not extending him favour in a personal criminal case.