LAHORE - The furious lawyers forced Attorney General of Pakistan Sardar Latif Khan Khosa to leave the venue when he was sitting on the stage along with Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges of the superior judiciary and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan during a reception hosted by Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) at a local hotel on Saturday. The 25 minute long pandemonium during which Mr Khosa resisted all kinds of verbal and physical onslaught from a huge number of lawyers, was filled with highly tense moments obliging the Rangers, police and even the hotel security to take over the stage for the sake of protecting the chief justice and other guests at the presidium. The enraged lawyers did not want Attorney General Latif Khosa to sit along with the chief justice and in amid frenzied fit of chanting derogatory slogans, they showed shoes to the attorney general, while the gathering of about 1400 lawyers, also witnessed a few empty water bottles being hurled at Khosa. The scene reached the climax when lawyers divided into two groups, went into a scuffle at the stage and were compelled to leave by the Rangers and the policemen after they had positioned themselves to meet any eventuality. As the Rangers personnel surrounded the stage, two groups of lawyers were engaged in the brawl and traded abuses while others tried to separate and calm them down. Almost the whole lot of lawyers, majority representing bar associations from across Punjab and some other parts of country, present in the hall began to shout 'no no soon after the stage secretary called Khosa on the stage. The shouts of 'Go Khosa Go and hooting went louder and louder as Sardar Latif Khan Khosa was sitting on the presidium to a great chagrin of the gathering. A number of lawyers reached right in front of Khosa demanding that he should be removed from the stage. The stage secretary implored the agitated lawyers to calm down and become peaceful but they remained unmoved. Apparently led by Sardar Khurram Khan Khosa and Arshad Buggo Advocate, two groups of lawyers got pitted against each other first in a war of words then to almost physical fight, which however was averted from getting all out by the intervention of other lawyers. The situation at that time was highly unruly and rowdy with agitated lawyers listening to none. Vice Chairman Punjab Bar Council Asif Ali Malik and other members of the bar held a discussion and asked Sardar Latif Khan Khosa to leave the stage as the situation downstage was becoming serious and removal of Khosa was considered the only option. After a pause, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa came down and left the venue through the behind door. Despite that, the furious lawyers continued to raise slogans even when formal proceedings of the functions had kick-started. Some members of the council were heard saying, they had already asked for not inviting Khosa fearing creation of the scene. While the PLF lawyers blamed JI and PML-N lawyers for triggering the unpleasant situation. The wild vista remained during the subsequent proceedings of the reception, particularly when Hamid Khan cursed the PCO judges. The lawyers chanted loud slogans against the PCO judges, as they wanted them out of the judiciary. It may be recalled that senior advocate Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, also ex-officio Chairman Pakistan Bar Council, was a frontline leader of the lawyers movement after March 9, 2007. During an encounter with the police at the Mall on March 12, 2007, he even got a forehead injury. Later on, when the PPP formed the government and he was allotted the lot of Attorney General of Pakistan, lawyers were up in arms against PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari for not honouring the three written agreements on restoration of the deposed judges. Khosa, also a PPP Senator, defended the governments position at that time over the judges restoration, which was in contradiction to the demands of the majority of lawyers.