RAWALPINDI:
The Rawalpindi District Bar Association has demanded formal involvement in the appointment of judges of the Lahore High Court and the Islamabad High Court, claiming that the Rawalpindi Bar Association has been systematically ignored in judicial appointments.
He warned that continued negligence will be challenged at all levels and that protests will be carried out to any extent.
Bar Association President Tariq Mahmood Sajid Awan and Secretary Qamar Khan Niazi, along with Vice President Nazia Yasin Hashmi, Joint Secretary Ahsan Saleem and members of the executive body, expressed these views during a joint press conference.
They said a ban had been imposed on judges from visiting district colleges in the context of a planned conspiracy aimed at dividing the bar and the court, adding that lawyers will not allow this to succeed and the notification restricting entry of judges into colleges should be withdrawn.
They said the Rawalpindi Bar has been ignored in judicial appointments for more than a decade, resulting in highly experienced and capable lawyers being overlooked.
They added that the bar association must unite to ensure its rightful share in the judiciary. While lawyers from Multan and Bahawalpur are included in the bench of the Lahore High Court, the Rawalpindi Bar Association, the third largest in Pakistan and the second largest in Punjab, remains ignored.
They said Rawalpindi Bar has always played an effective role in upholding constitutional supremacy, rule of law and judicial independence.
The Bar Association currently has 9,000 lawyers whose skills are being wasted. They said names like Khalid Mahmood Abbasi, Agha Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Bashir Paracha and Raja Ghazanfar were removed from the list of judicial appointments.
They added that Rawalpindi Bar has produced several notable judges and lawyers including Justice Waqas Rauf, Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan, Justice Sardar Aslam, Justice (retd) Maulvi Anwarul Haq, Justice (retd) Ibadur Rehman Lodhi, Rab Nawaz Noon, Sardar Ishaq and Chaudhry Zamarrud, who played exemplary roles. They allege that the capabilities of several lawyers, including Malik Waheed Anjum and Basharatullah Khan, were wasted in a conspiracy.
Addressing the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Judicial Commission, they said that the Rawalpindi Bar Association will no longer remain a silent spectator and demanded that it be allotted four seats in the Lahore High Court.
