MULTAN-As the President of High Court Bar Association Multan President Sher Zaman Qureshi succeeded in thwarting the half-hearted attempt of the Multan police to arrest him, the enraged black coats took to the roads and staged an hours-long sit-in against his arrest warrants here at Chowk Kutchehry on Monday.
The protesting lawyers carried out non-stop sloganeering against judiciary and police, announcing boycott of courts besides hurling a threat that bar membership all such comrades who are appearing before courts will be cancelled. The lawyers announced to hold a joint meeting of district and high court bars to chalk out new line of action.
Earlier, the CPO Multan went to the office of Sher Zaman Qureshi in high court bar building but to no avail as the former was sitting in district bar hall. Sources said that when police reached district courts, dozens of enraged lawyers assembled up in front of police contingent and blocked their way while Sher Zaman fled on a motorbike from backdoor of district courts. "He is intact and at a safe place," claimed an office bearer of High Court Bar.
Meanwhile, a large number of lawyers gathered in High Court under the leadership of former bar president Syed Athar Shah Bokhari and asked the lawyers not to appear before the courts. The lawyers shouted slogans against the judiciary and offered mock funeral prayer of a high judicial personality. The protesting lawyers asked CPO Multan Ch Saleem to refrain from arresting the lawyers as they do not want to have a clash with police. They warned that an unhappy incident could take place if police tried to arrest Sher Zaman from the bar building.
A severe traffic block took place due to the sit-in of the lawyers at Chowk Kutchehry. Hundreds of vehicles got stuck in traffic jam. Police diverted traffic to other routes from Chowk Kutchehry.
Addressing the protesters, officiating president of High Court Bar Abdul Sattar Malik, General Secretary Sahibzafa Nadeem Farid, Mahmood Ashraf Khan, Athar Shah Bokhari, Khalid Ashraf, Azeemul Haq Pirzada and others said that thousands of lawyers would offer their arrest before Sher Zamn. They warned that the black coats would not accept arrest of their president and the city would witness streams of blood. "It's not the issue of any individual, rather it's the issue of sanctity of black coats," they added.
The stand off between the bar and the bench begun following an incident on July 24, 2017 when a senior judge at LHC Multan Bench ordered irrelevant persons to go out of the courtroom. Mr. Qureshi was amongst the persons asked to leave the courtroom. Having felt insulted, he gathered other members of the bar and exchanged harsh words with the judge, uprooted the nameplate of the judge from outside courtroom and carried out sloganeering against him. The LHC chief justice took serious notice of the incident and initially withdrew judges from Multan bench and then a full court issued order for cancellation of Mr Qureshi's license besides his arrest.