Lawyers to observe strike tomorrow

KARACHI: The lawyers on Saturday announced observing a strike across the country on August 26 against the government references against judges, alleged harassment of legal fraternity and the Indian aggression in Kashmir.

The All Pakistan Lawyers Convention by Karachi Bar Association at the City Courts decided that the lawyers throughout the country as well as in Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir will boycott courts on Monday and hold protest meetings at the bar rooms.

A resolution was passed at the convention, saying the references against Supreme Court’s Justice Faez Isa and Sindh High Court’s Justice K.K. Agha were “frivolous, concocted and malafide” and are tantamount to an attempt to muzzle and subjugate the independence of the judiciary. The lawyers demanded putting the petition filed by Justice Isa, the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association against the references before a full court bench of the apex court for hearing by intelligible judges. Criticizing the Supreme Judicial Council, they said they deprecated the language used against Justice Isa in the SJC Order disposing of reference no. 427 of 2019 and added the neutrality and impartiality of the SJC has come into question. The lawyers also criticized Peshawar High Court's contempt of court notice to the PBC vice-chairman Syed Amjad Shah and condemned the alleged forced disappearance of former vice president of Multan High Court Bar Association Wasif Naveed Qureshi. They also condemned the announced and unannounced restrictions on the media against fair reporting and asked journalists, civil society and political parties to align against these attacks on the freedom of speech. The lawyers in the resolution also condemned the barbaric acts of the Indian government in Kashmir and expressed their complete solidarity with the people of the occupied valley in their struggle for legitimate rights and aspirations.