Former prime minister and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has condemned the arrest of Ahsan Bhoon, President Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), Atique Shah, President Peshawar High Court Bar Association the president district bar Lahore and a number of protesting lawyers and demanded their immediate release.
Ahsan Bhoon President LHCBA and Muhammad Shah President of the District Bar Lahore were arrested in Lahore on Friday during protest demonstrations on the day of hearing in the Supreme Judicial Council. Media reports on Saturday also said that Atique Shah, President Peshawar High Court Bar Association alongwith 30 other lawyers have also been detained in Lahore.
In a statement on Saturday she said that the protesting lawyers were exercising their democratic and constitutional right to hold peaceful protest demonstration against the assault on the independence of judiciary.
She said that the entire nation was with the bar and legal fraternity over the issue and no coercion or intimidation of the lawyers' community will succeed in beating them into submission and withdrawing from their principled stand.-PR