The lawyers continued their protest against issuance of arrest warrants of President Multan Bar Association Sher Zaman Qureshi here on Tuesday. They also created hostile conditions for media persons restricting them from their protest for, what they claimed, biased reporting of the Monday's events.
Meanwhile, Multan Regional Police Officer Sultan Azam Temuri told a larger bench that several raids conducted for the arrest of Qureshi remained unsuccessful. He said the contemnor had gone undergone to avoid arrest. He sought more time for the arrest of the lawyer's leader. The bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah adjourned hearing of contempt proceedings till September 8 and directed the police officer to ensure arrest of the contemnor.
Advocate Syed Qaiser Abbas Kazmi, the other contemnor, attended the proceedings. Unlike Monday, the lawyers contained their protest inside the high court and did not take to roads or vandalism. However, in their speeches they criticized media for 'biased' reporting of the other day's events when lawyers had clashed with security personnel and broke the judges' gate of the LHC.
The lawyers openly hurled abuses at media persons and restricted cameramen from filming their protest. However, the strike call given by the LHCBA was not welcomed by majority of the members as attendance of lawyers in cases fixed before different courts was sizeable. On other side, arrangements for the security of the chief justice block had been beefed up as personnel closed the entry points by putting containers in addition to iron-grill gates. Personnel of Rangers and anti-riot force were deployed on the high court premises to maintain law and order. However, the protesting lawyers slammed some senior lawyers for criticizing on television channels the protest and the stance taken by LHCBA Multan President Qureshi.