Call for judicial inquiry by SC into city courts incident

The Sindh Bar Council (SBC), and lawyers’ representatives of the Sindh and Karachi bar associations on Saturday demanded a judicial inquiry by the Supreme Court into the city courts incident.

Addressing a news conference, SBC Vice Chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan Jalbani, Karachi Bar Association President Ashfaq Ali Gilal and others expressed their utter disappointment over the unfortunate and unwanted incidents that occurred in the city courts, where a trivial scuffle between lawyers and a security guard on a car parking issue turned into an ugly fight.

They claimed that the district & sessions judge (East) had misused his powers and directed the court staff to take action against lawyers, which was condemnable.

They said that the chief justice of the Sindh High Court had assured the lawyers that disciplinary action would be taken against the district judge for issuing a resolution against lawyers, but no action had been taken yet.

They demanded that the SC intervene in the matter and initiate a high-level inquiry, in which representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council and the SBC be included, with everyone involved in attacking the lawyers be punished and disciplinary action initiated against the responsible judicial officer and staff.

They warned that if the demands of the lawyers are not met, then the lawyers’ fraternity would announce their future course of action on Monday (tomorrow).