LAHORE: Senior lawyers on Monday issued an Open letter to the Pakistan Bar Council, unequivocally denouncing the December 11 riots at the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC). Signatories of the letter are 56 eminent lawyers including Abid Hassan Minto, Raza Kazim, Dr. Parvez Hassan, Makhdoom Ali Khan, Tariq Mehmood, Arshad Tayyebali, Kazim Hassan, Qamar Afzal, Salman Akram Raja, and Babar Sattar.They said: "We, Senior Advocates and Advocates of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, unequivocally condemn the attack upon the Pakistan Institute of Cardiology (PIC) by members of the legal fraternity. We are anguished because it is inconceivable and unconscionable that those licensed to practice the law and uphold its majesty could choose to attack a hospital irrespective of reasons, provocations or motivations."Reminding the legal community of its obligation to respect and abide by the law as well as due legal process, they decried the “degeneration of a conflict leading to violence” and lamented how it “brought disrepute to the legal profession as a whole and humiliated the legal fraternity”.They wrote: "As officers of the law, we are obliged to not only do our utmost to respect and strictly abide by the law but also pursue legal process in matters of conflict be it personal or institutional. Allowing degeneration of a conflict leading to violence on others, public property and a healthcare facility can never be justified and is grossly violative of the highest standards to which the profession of law holds its practitioners. These actions have sadly brought disrepute to the legal profession as a whole and humiliated the legal fraternity," they added.They said: We are pained by calls for strikes against court proceedings by the bar councils and bar associations. While right to protest is a constitutionally guaranteed right, such right can never be exercised to boycott judicial proceedings in a manner that interferes with judicial business and undermines citizens’ right to access to justice and the strict obligation of lawyers’ to their clients, to courts and to public at large under the Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules, 1976.""We also note with regret that the Pakistan Bar Council and different bar associations have not condemned this incident in clear and unequivocal terms. We expect that strict disciplinary action will be taken immediately against all licensed lawyers who participated in this unfortunate incident and are penalized by the Pakistan Bar Council as the apex regulatory authority of the legal profession for having grossly breached cannons of professional conduct failing.""We also demand that all those, who violated the law and committed illegal acts during this incident and events leading up to this incident are proceeded against pursuant to proper investigation strictly in accordance with law, without undermining the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the accused or affording them exceptional treatment, and the due process of law is allowed to take its course," the letter concluded.
12-17-2019, 07:02 AM
Open letter to PBC: 56 top lawyers denounce attack on PIC
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