Prolonging rift between lawyers and journalists of Karachi is a bid to foil the movement for the freedom of judiciary and no one would be allowed to harm this movement. This was stated at a meeting of the Committee formed to resolve the dispute between journalists and lawyers, held at Karachi Press Club (KPC), here on Monday.
Shamimur Rehman, a senior journalist, chaired the meeting, which was attended by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Munir A Malik, President Sindh High Court Bar (SHCB) Abrar Hassan and Secretary Munirur Rehman Advocate.
The representatives of lawyers and journalists underscored the need of developing closer relations between themselves for independence of the judiciary and rule of law and constitution. Speaking at the meeting, Munir A Malik said the footage of violence incidents that took place between lawyers and journalists on April 14 in Karachi was watched. He termed the incident a sorrowful matter.
He said there had always been brotherly ties between journalists and lawyers and the same would be in future. Malik said no person or group would be allowed to sabotage the movement for freedom of judiciary.
The representatives of media expressed concern over absence of members of Karachi Bar. They drew attention of lawyers' representative towards this matter and said some elements by prolonging the dispute between journalists and lawyers wanted to bring loss to judiciary's independence.
Munir Malik assured the media representatives of contacting the Karachi Bar members and playing his role for improving ties between media men and lawyers.
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) Secretary General Mazhar Abbas, Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) Secretary Javed Chaudhry, Secretary KPC Imtiaz Khan Faran, ATJ President Javed Saba, Secretary Faisal Aziz Khan, Shahadat Baloch, representative of court reporters Ali Hamza Khan, Asghar Umer and AH Khanzada also attended the meeting.