ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah has expressed displeasure over last week’s attack on the High Court today (Monday), saying that the lawyers who were involved in the rampage should be punished.
He made these remarks while hearing the case related to IHC rampage. During the proceeding, secretary of the IHC’s bar association asked the court to form a judicial commission to investigate the case.
The judge made these remarks while hearing the case pertaining to the lawyers’ February 8 rampage. Hundreds of lawyers ransacked the high court’s premises, including the IHC CJ’s chambers, during a protest over demolition of illegally built lawyers’ chambers.
However, Justice Minallah said, “You all know well who did all this; the case doesn’t need a commission,” adding, “The bar should identify those who were involved in the attack so that no one else is harassed.
The judge further said that all those involved in the attack were lawyers of the bar. He observed that those who kept the judges hostage have committed a grave crime. “It is a serious incident and those involved should be punished,” he added.
He added that, “the integrity of the bar is at stake because of the wrongdoing of a 100 people.” Talking about the JIT team, he said that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has reported that the lawyers and the bar were not cooperating in resolving the case.
Denying the request to form a JIT, Justice Minallah asked Chaudhry, IHC bar association’s secretary, to identify the lawyers involved in the attack. He expressed concerns over the fact that the lawyers also assaulted media workers and got their footage deleted.
