Karachi lawyers boycott courts in protest

Karachi: Lawyers in Karachi staged a complete boycott of courts yesterday to protest against the high-handedness of police and law enforcement agencies in Islamabad.

Dozens of lawyers and journalists were injured on Saturday in Islamabad when police attacked them with batons and tear gas shells outside the Supreme Court and Election Commission buildings, while the commission reviewed nomination papers of President General Pervez Musharraf and others.

Arrested

There was a total boycott of proceedings in the city as well as the high courts and none of the lawyers appeared before any court.

A general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association was also held, which condemned the police atrocities against the legal community.

After the meeting, the secretary general of the bar, Naeem Qureshi, was arrested outside the city court.

Police said Qureshi was arrested because he was wanted in cases regarding attacks on police.

Meanwhile, Advocate General of Sindh Anwar Mansoor Khan has resigned from his post. Khan told Gulf News that he had originally resigned from his post on July 25 this year.

Ahsan poised to be new chief

Eminent lawyer Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan is poised to be elected next president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the top forum of lawyers waging a struggle for restoration of true democracy in Pakistan.

Incumbent president of SCBA, Munir A. Malik, told reporters yesterday Ahsan has been nominated with broad consensus among lawyers to contest the elections of the association to be held late this month.

Ahsan was lead lawyer for Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry during the legal battle after Musharraf tried to oust him in March for alleged misconduct. The Supreme Court reinstated the chief justice in July, throwing out the case against him.

A former minister, Ahsan is a key figure in the Pakistan People's Party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Along with several other prominent party colleagues he had opposed striking a power-sharing deal with the military ruler.

Ahsan was injured on Saturday along with many other colleagues when police assaulted hundreds of lawyers as they protested against Musharraf's candidacy in the October six presidential election in the capital.

- Shahid Hussain, Correspondent