KP Bar Council enlists demands

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has asked the government to allocate permanent grant for all the high court bar associations, a Shuhada Package for the martyred lawyers and provide their children medical facilities at the official level.

Speaking at a news conference here at Peshawar Press Club on Monday, the vice-chairman of the KP Bar Council Saeedullah Khan and others said that the government did not honour the commitments made with them.

They recalled that the former chief minister had approved construction of a hostel for lawyers on six kanals of land in Hayatabad but that was ignored by the present government. They said the previous government had also approved Rs10 million grant. The former law minister had okayed Rs5 million but the Bar Council did not receive even a single penny to date.

The Bar Council leaders asked the government to include Shuhada package for the martyred lawyers and endowment funds and provide affected families with medical treatment at government's hospitals.

They asked the government to take practical steps for life insurance that were promised by the previous government. The office-bearers demanded monthly stipends for junior lawyers for three years and pension for above 60 years old lawyers.

They thanked lawyers of all bar councils for observing a successful strike to protest the reference filed against Justice Faez Isa of the Supreme Court. They warned of continuing the movement if the reference against honourable justice was not withdrawn. The bar council leaders said they would draw a future line of action in the next meeting if the government failed to honour commitments with them.