Lawyers protesting in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday called for the immediate suspension of the license of rights activist and former Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir for representing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in a case relating to a media blackout against party chief Altaf Hussain.The protests organised by Advocate Aftab Virk and others alleged that the MQM was involved in the murders of lawyers during the 2007 movement for the restoration of judiciary.The protesters called for the cancellation of Jahangir’s membership of the Pakistan Bar Council and other legal bodies. Earlier this month, the LHC ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the Press Council of Pakistan (PCP) to ensure a complete blackout of all activities of the MQM supremo in both electronic and print media. The protesters, who said that the MQM was behind the murder of several lawyers in 2007 during the movement for the restoration of the judiciary, demanded that the lawyers’ licences be cancelled.Defence by legal representation of one’s choice is constitutionally guaranteed and considered an essential pillar of the right to fair trial.For their part, lawyers should be able to represent whomsoever they wish without fear of repercussions on a personal or professional level. Their right to do so, however, is far from sacrosanct.When it comes to ‘crimes against religion’, for example, some lawyers themselves harbour contempt for due process.Advocate Rashid Rehman was threatened by his own colleagues for defending a blasphemy accused, and was later murdered — the case remains unsolved.There is also reportedly an unwritten consensus in some local bar associations that if a lawyer is party to a case, no lawyer from that bar — at the risk of severe censure — will represent the opposing side.In the present instance, Dr Ranjha and Ms Jahangir are defending a basic tenet of democracy and basic human rights.
pk.shafaqna.com
