KP Bar Council gives call for protest across KP today

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has given a call for boycott of the courts across the province, including the Peshawar High Court (PHC), today to protest what it called indecent attitude of security forces against the judges of superior courts.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the KP Bar Council on Thursday. The meeting also decided to stage a demonstration outside the PHC building today in support of the KP Bar Council demand.
The protest call was given in the wake of a recent incident in which the army personnel allegedly stopped PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, who was travelling with a police escort, at a picket near the Kohat Tunnel and allowed him to proceed after quite some time.
In an earlier incident on May 27, the Peshawar High Court judge, Justice Ikramullah Khan, driving to the Bannu Cantonment along with a police escort vehicle was stopped by the security forces personnel. Although a policeman from the escort disembarked and told the security personnel about Justice Ikramullah, the soldiers insisted that he should show them his service card.
Muhammad Ijaz Khan Sabi, a member of the KP Bar Council, told The News that their protest is meant to condemn the attitude of army personnel at roadside checkposts towards the lawyers and judges.
“More than 50 bar associations across the province will stage rallies and pass resolutions against the recent incident involving the PHC chief justice,” he said.
He added that several cases have been filed in the courts by citizens and lawyers against what he termed undue questioning and long wait at military checkposts.