Lawyers boycott courts to protest arrest of colleague

PESHAWAR: The lawyer community boycotted court proceedings throughout the province on Wednesday to register protest at the arrest of a community member in Chitral.

No lawyer appeared in the courts on the call of the KP Bar Council (KPBC). The litigants faced problems as there were no hearings into the cases. According to KPBC vice-chairman Zar Badshah and chairman of the executive committee, Syed Mubashar Shah, a member of the council, Fareed Jan Advocate, was arrested by the Chitral police when he was going for the scrutiny of his nomination papers. They said it was for the government and the Election Commission of Pakistan to provide a level playing field to the citizens for taking part in the general elections but that was not the case.