LAHORE - Following a civil society protest in Islamabad last week in support of model, Ayyan Ali, around two dozen people gathered outside Lahore Press Club on Monday to show solidarity with the celebrity currently under trail in money laundering case.
From amongst her supporters was also a noted lawyer, Khurrum Latif Khosa, who happens to be the son of the former Punjab Governor, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa. The elderly Khosa, an eminent lawyer on the criminal side, is also pleading her bail application case pending in the Lahore High court.
The protestors were holding placards inscribed with pro-Ayyan slogans, which read: “Stop character assassination of Ayyan Ali”, “Violation of women rights unacceptable” and “Do justice with Ayyan Ali”.
Khurrum Latif Khosa justified his presence on the occasion by saying that he was there on the request of civil society which had also invited him in Islamabad last week for the same purpose. “If we [lawyers] can fight for the rights of people in courts, what stops us from doing the same by coming on the roads”, he said while talking to The Nation.
Asked why his father had accepted the case of Ayyan Ali amid rumors of her alleged connections with the PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari and the brother of his close aide Mr Rehman Malik, the junior Khosa replied: “One must differentiate between a lawyer’s professional duties and his political affiliation. My father and I have also fought cases of PML-N, PTI and MQM leaders. Does this mean we have shun our affiliation from the PPP?” he posed a counter question. Khurrum further stated that there were a few noted lawyers in Lahore on the criminal side and many clients preferred his father to fight their cases in courts of law.