LHC bars prosecution against guiltless lawyers; committee comprising lawyers, doctors formed

"An apology has been made to the general public [over the incident]," Ahsan Bhoon said.

LAHORE (Dunya News) – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday ordered to not prosecute guiltless lawyers, but vowed proceedings and investigations against “whoever has sinned” during the clash between the doctors and lawyers at the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in Lahore on December 11.

Meanwhile, a bench headed by Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi sought personal appearance of the Punjab chief secretary, home secretary and the inspector general of police (IGP) in today’s hearing on petitions against ‘reckless’ arrests of lawyers in the wake of attack on the PIC.

The petitions sought the release of lawyers, restraining police from torture, implicating in false cases and harassing them after the tragic incident.

Pakistan Bar Council member Ahsan Bhoon appeared to represent the legal fraternity of lawyers, and argued that the arrested lawyers were subjected to torture by police, and their faces were covered with black veils when they were produced in the court for remand.

Mr Bhoon meant that the lawyers were humiliated and some of the lawyers sitting at Race Course Park, Lahore, were also arrested and tortured.

“An apology has been made to the general public [over the incident],” he added.

On Dec. 16, Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta of anti-terrorism court (ATC) sent eight more lawyers to judicial remand in the same incident.

Speaking to media, vice president of Supreme Court bar Ghulam Murtaza Chaudhry and lawyer Zaheer Anayat Malik said that police presented eight lawyers but failed to provide any investigation report.

The police sought physical remand of the accused lawyers. However, the court rejected the physical remand of lawyers, and instead granted judicial remand.

They further told the media that bail pleas were filed and the court after issuing notices to the parties adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

Meanwhile, to consider the matter, an eight-member committee comprising of representatives of both doctors and lawyers has been formed. Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) Hafeez-ur-Rehman is representing lawyers, however doctors are yet to finalise names for the committee.

The committee will initiate its work after doctors finalise the names.

‘Inquiry committee’

On the other hand, an inquiry committee, constituted by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to find out the culprits responsible for the violent clash and identify the roles of lawyers, doctors and police, has been carrying out investigation.

The findings by the inquiry committee in a form of a report will be made a part of measures which will be devised and implemented to prevent occurrence of such incidents in the future.

Advocate Nadeem Sarwar had earlier filed a petition in the LHC against police raids on lawyers’ homes for their arrest.

Punjab Inspector General (IG) Shoaib Dastgir, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zulfiqar Hameed and Pemra were made respondents in the application.

The application had pleaded with the court to issue directives for the protection of lawyers and halt police from arresting them.

‘Tragic and condemnable’

Later, Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa had termed that the incident “tragic and condemnable”, and stated those who belong to the respected profession would go through the process of self-accountability.

CJP Khosa had said that the attack at the PIC should not have occurred at the first place, and expressed sympathy towards the victims and affected families.

“Both, lawyers and doctors, belong to a respected profession and people should be mindful of the values attached to legal as well as medical profession,” he had added. He had expressed hope that "better sense will prevail" not just in this particular incident and its aftermath but in the future as well.