Lawyers community on Saturday went on strike against the attitude of judges in lower judiciary as well as issuing of contempt of court notices to lawyers and elevation of Justice Muneeb Akhtar of Sindh High Court to Supreme Court what they believed violated the merit.
Lawyers' strike adversely affected the court proceedings to large extent. Sindh Bar Council gave the call for strike previous day, which was also supported by Karachi Bar Association (KBA). Courts gave a deserted look and litigants suffered since the cases fixed for hearing could not be taken up due to non-appearance of lawyers. Jail authorities didn't bring under trial prisoners in the view of strike of, whereas the cases were put off for next hearing due to the absence of lawyers.
Lawyers stormed the accountability court, which was hearing a case pertaining to alleged corruption in Sindh Information department and pressed hard for adjournment of hearing. The judge of accountability refused to adjourn the hearing, saying that no one could dictate him. Vice Chairman Sindh Bar Council Salahuddin Gandapur and Secretary Zainul Abideen talking to the media said the successful strike of lawyers proved that community is against corruption, incompetence and misbehaviour with the lawyers in lower judiciary.
They announced to hold a conference, which would be represented by the lawyers across Sindh to chalk out the future strategy. They also demanded Sindh Government to recover the brother of a lawyer from Khairpur and also the fake cases against lawyers should be withdrawn.
KBC president Haider Imam told Business Recorder that strike remained successful as legal proceedings almost remained suspended in city court. He said lawyer community has also strong reservations on elevation of Justice Muneeb Akhtar of SHC to Supreme Court, which is against the precedent set in Al-Jahad case trust where seniority was the sole criteria for elevation of judges from high court to apex court.