LAHORE – The Lahore High Court Bar Association has suspended the membership of Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana, banning him from entering the LHC building.
The decision to suspend the membership of the governor was taken during a meeting of the LHCBA chaired by the bar’s association President Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali.
The bar association held Mr Rajwana responsible for ruckus caused at a convention organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the LHCBA last week.
The bar alleged that Rajwana had “planned” the disruption caused at the convention by a group of lawyers associated with the ruling PML-N and banned him from entering the Lahore High Court building, the Dawn News reported.
The spokesperson of the Punjab governor, however, dismissed the LHCBA allegations as “baseless”. “[The] governor is a law-abiding man with respect for the lawyers and the constitution.”
On May 20, a group of people dressed up in black coats attacked the lawyers coming to take part in Representative Convention, held at newly-constructed Javed Iqbal Auditorium of the LHCBA, locked the SCBA president and its secretary in bar’s library, ransacked the windowpanes of the bar, broke tables, and disgraced the bar in order to disturb the convention.
Several federal and provincial law officers were among the saboteurs who hijacked the convention sought to press the demand for the PM’s resignation in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case.
The host bar associations managed to eventually resume control of the stage and a heavy contingent of police and anti-riot force were deployed in front of the high court premises following the commotion.
Members of the bar associations then gathered in the auditorium where they shouted slogans against the lawyers supporting the PML-N.
“The lawyers stand united and in unity lies their strength,” LHCBA Vice President Rashid Lodhi said during the Thursday’s session which was followed by a protest. The bar members chanted slogans against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and announced to hold a protest every Thursday till Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigns.
