Karachi Bar Association suspends Murtaza Wahab’s membership

The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Thursday suspended the membership of the adviser to the Sindh chief minister on law and environment, Barrister Murtaza Wahab, for three months after its meeting was marred by unruly behaviour of pro-government lawyers.

The KBA had organised a general body meeting in the City Courts to discuss the lack of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus from the lower courts in the city. However, a group of lawyers, allegedly belonging to the Peoples Lawyers Forum, the legal wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), turned up to end the meeting.

KBA General Secretary GM Korai alleged that lawyers paid by the Sindh government attacked the meeting on the direction of Wahab. He commented that the PPP government had sent goons to stop the meeting and it was a situation worse than the era of former president General Pervez Musharraf.

Korai said instead of resolving the issues raised by the KBA, the government was trying to silence them through violence. He announced that the bar had immediately suspended Wahab’s membership for three months and would announce the future course of action in a press conference on Saturday.

Two weeks ago, the KBA had decried the inadequate COVID-19 safety measures at the courts, demanding that the government take notice of the alarming situation. So far, 18 staffers at the City Courts have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

KBA president Munir Ahmed Malik had said then that the bar used to receive an annual grant from the provincial government, however, it did not receive it this year due to which the lawyers had been facing a difficult situation.