Representatives of the bars has announced that lawyers will appear before the courts only in urgent nature cases initially till April 5 as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

The decision was announced on Tuesday at a joint press conference held by Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Abid Saqi, President Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) Tahir Nasarullah Warraich, President Lahore Bar Association (LBA) G A Khan Tariq and other office bearers of the bars.

The bars also urged the authorities to immediately release the prisoners jailed for minor offences and those who were scheduled to complete their sentences within next six months.

A joint declaration issued later also demanded that judicial officers of the district judiciary should hold proceedings on petitions of bail after arrest in respective jails.

The bars' leaders said the decision had been taken keeping in view the health of judges, lawyers, litigants and others also.

They said that the lawyers will appear only in habeas petitions, bail and urgent stay matters etc till April 5. They said all the lawyers had a consensus that the courts could reduce the upcoming summer vacations if the proceedings affected due to non appearance of the lawyers.

They also expressed concern over non compliance of the precautionary measures approved by the LHC for all visiting the courts premises.

President LHCBA Tahir Warraich said the bar had earlier conveyed its concerns to the LHC and made a request that no cases other than urgent nature should be fixed for hearing for two weeks to avoid crowd in the courts premises.

However, he regretted that the request of the bar had not been considered seriously. Therefore, he said the bars in the best interest made these decisions.