Lawyers, cops scuffle at PHC gate

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa inspector general of police (IGP) to submit his reply within seven days about a writ petition on the recent scuffle between the cops and the lawyers affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

A two-member bench comprising Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali heard the petition. It was alleged that the cops deputed at the gate outside the PHC misbehaved with the lawyers and subjected them to “unnecessary checking”. The petition was seeking the court orders to remove “additional security”. Ali Zaman Advocate and Mashal Azam Yousafzai of Insaf Lawyers Forum appeared on behalf of the PTI while the provincial government was represented by Additional Advocate General Danial Asad Chamkani.

During the hearing, the additional advocate general told the court that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council had written a letter to the provincial government seeking additional security for the courts in view of the worsening law and order in the province.

He said the deployment of the additional cops was made at the request of the bar council to ensure security to the lawyers. Chamkani said that the government would withdraw the additional cops if the bar council and the legal fraternity wanted it to do so. The court issued a notice to the IGP to submit his reply in the case and adjourned the hearing.

It may be recalled that a group of lawyers aligned with the PTI recently scuffled with the cops deputed at the entrance to the PHC for security.

The lawyers had exchanged harsh words with the cops performing security duty at the entrance to the PHC building. They had demanded that the cops should be removed from outside the PHC as the candidates were visiting the court in connection with their appeals.

According to the police, the cops were deployed for security purposes to avoid any untoward incident as the cops were posted deployed at all the sensitive buildings in the red zone of the provincial capital. The police officials said that the people were being allowed entry into the court premises after proper checking.