Lahore High Court Multan bench lawyers observe strike over row with judge

MULTAN: The lawyers of Lahore High Court’s Multan bench observed a complete strike on Tuesday over the tussle between Justice Qasim Khan and High Court Bar Association President Sher Zaman Qureshi a day earlier.

The lawyers protested in the court building, saying they will not attend the courts where they are not respected — referring to the behaviour of Justice Qasim. They also put on fire the effigies of Lahore High Court Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Qasim.

They also shutdown the courts and broke the nameplate of Justice Qasim and threw it on the ground, walking over its pieces.

While expressing displeasure over the lawyers’ behaviour, the LHC chief justice stopped the judges from working for the Multan bench. The chief justice said never in the history of LHC has anyone disrespected a judge’s name the way the protesting lawyers did. The chief justice, therefore, directed the judges to hear cases in Lahore.

The police have surrounded the Multan court building to avoid any untoward incident.

The brawl erupted after Sher Zaman, along with other members of the association, went to the court during hearing on the case of rebuilding a demolished structure near Vehari Chowk. 

During the hearing, Zaman passed some comments over which Justice Qasim told him to leave the courtroom, subsequently agitating the latter party.