Senior members of the legal fraternity on Monday issued an open letter to the Pakistan Bar Council unequivocally condemning the December 11 riots at the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC).
In their letter, advocates and senior advocates of the Supreme Court underscored their anguish at the “inconceivable and unconscionable” move “to attack a hospital irrespective of reasons, provocations or motivations”.
Recalling the legal community’s obligation to respect and abide by the law as well as due legal process, they denounced the “degeneration of a conflict leading to violence” and regretted how it “brought disrepute to the legal profession as a whole and humiliated the legal fraternity”.
The letter’s signatories, which include some of the most recognisable and respected names in the legal fraternity, underscored that although everyone enjoys the constitutional right to protest, demonstrations and strikes by bar councils and bar associations that hinder court proceedings undermine Pakistani citizens’ constitutional right to justice and the lawyers’ obligation to their clients as well as the judicial system.
“We also note with regret that the Pakistan Bar Council and different bar associations have not condemned this incident in clear and unequivocal terms,” the statement noted.
“We expect that strict disciplinary action will be taken immediately against all licensed lawyers who participated in this unfortunate incident and are penalized by the Pakistan Bar Council as the apex regulatory authority of the legal profession for having grossly breached canons of professional conduct.”
The advocates also called upon the PBC, the bar councils, and other lawyers’ associations to take affirmative steps to introspect and engage in immediate self-accountability.
“We must not become apologists for those amongst us misconducting themselves but to hold them to account and set the standards by seeking legal recourse in respect of any injustice we perceive is done to members of our fraternity but not by way of acting as a mob,” they added in the letter.
Last week, a group of lawyers had stormed the PIC’s emergency ward in Lahore, vandalising public property, setting a police vehicle on fire, and attacking provincial minister Fayyaz ul Hasan Chohan. At least one woman had died due to lack of medical attention as the attack unfolded, while several patients were forced out of the building.
Videos on social media showed police officials, clad in riot gear, rendered helpless as a swarm of lawyers outnumbering law enforcement personnel broke through the entrance to the hospital.
A day later, Punjab police registered two cases under various criminal charges for allegedly attacking the PIC and ransacking the property in Lahore. A first information report (FIR) was registered against 200-250 unidentified lawyers on a hospital official’s complaint, while another was filed on the complaint of police in which 15 lawyers were nominated.
Signatories:
- Abid Hassan Minto – Lahore
2. Raza Kazim – Lahore
3. Dr. Parvez Hassan – Lahore
4. Makhdoom Ali Khan – Karahi
5. Ali Sibtain Fazli – Lahore
6. Tariq Mehmood – Quetta
7. Muhammad Ali Raza – Lahore
8. Arshad Tayyebali – Karachi
9. Kazim Hassan – Karachi
10. Bilal Hassan Minto – Lahore
11. Qamar Afzal – Islamabad
12. Salman Akram Raja – Lahore
13. Sardar Ejaz Ishaq – Islamabad
14. Babar Sattar – Islamabad
15. Ijaz Ahmed – Karachi
16. Sattar Pirzada – Karachi
17. Zahid Ibrahim – Karachi
18. Sajid Zahid – Karachi
19. Afzal Siddiqui – Islamabad
20. Amir Javed – Peshawar
21. Chaundhry Umar – Lahore
22. Tariq Aziz – Islamabad
23. Khalid Ishaq – Lahore
24. Afzal Khan – Lahore
25. Azad Nafees – Islamabad
26. Arshad Mirza – Lahore
27. Munawar Ghani – Karachi
28. Farooq Amjad Meer – Karachi
29. Jamshed Malik – Karachi
30. Sana Minhas – Karachi
31. Murtaza Wahab – Karachi
32. Muhammad Anus Makhdoom – Karachi
33. Dr. Amjad Bukhari – Karachi
34. Naveen Merchant – Karachi
35. Mahmood Awan – Islamabad
36. Faisal Ghani – Karachi
37. Asim Mansoor – Karachi
38. Saman Imtiaz – Karachi
39. Khalil Khan – Peshawar
40. Mustafa Ramday – Lahore
41. Rashid Hafeez – Lahore
42. Omar Lakhani – Karachi
43. Chaudhry Muhammad Atiq – Lahore
44. Faisal Islam – Lahore
45. Shazib Masud – Lahore
46. Imran Muhammad Sarwar – Lahore
47. Mansoor Usman Awan – Lahore
48. Taffazul Rizvi – Karachi
49. Muhammad Ansar Awan – Lahore
50. Feisal Hussain Naqvi – Lahore
51. Uzair Karamat Bhindari – Lahore
52. Iftikharuddin Riaz – Lahore
53. Mian Muhammad Kashif – Lahore
54. Hina Hafeezullah Ishaq – Lahore
55. Abdur Rehman – Karachi
56. Shabbir Shah – Karachi
