Out of a total of 17,267 votes, only 6,727 votes were polled in the Lahore High Court Bar Association annual elections on Saturday. Counting was delayed by three hours because of a clash between two lawyers over three disputed votes.
Supporters of the Asma Jahangir group accused the opponents of rigging. In the end, with the consent of both groups, the three disputed votes were rejected and the counting started at 8:30pm. The polling had ended at 5:30pm.
Lawyers from Hamid Khan’s Professional Group had accused the other group of trying to sabotage the election because their candidates appeared to be losing.
Candidates and their supporters were at the bar premises all day to campaign for votes. The presidential candidates had been entertaining voters with meals. Bar pundits were of the view that Shafqat Mahmood Chohan, the Hamid Khan group candidate, would win the election.
There were 11 candidates for four offices: Shafqat Mahmood Chohan and Muhammad Naeem for president, Amir Jalil Siddiqui and M Irfan Sheikh for vice president, Mian Asghar Ali, Zahid Sikandar Sheikh, Mian Ahmad Chachar and Mian Umar Farooq for secretary, Nabeela Manzoor Jaffari, Mian Iqbal and Syed Akhtar Sheraz for finance secretary.
Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir told the media that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamat-i-Islami should stop favouring the Taliban. She said children of the people who were supporting dialogue with the Taliban were protected and the poor were falling prey to terrorism. She said the country was in a critical situation and all should work to make the government strong. She was of the view that a military operation would lead to attacks by terrorists but said that the government had no better option.
Former SCBA president Aitzaz Ahsan said religious scholars had been consulted during the drafting of the Constitution, and the Taliban’s claim that it was not according to Shariah did not hold. Even members of the Talibans’ dialogue committee had endorsed the country’s Constitution, he added. He said the prime minister and the army chief had taken oath under the Constitution and were duty bound to ensure its implementation.
In Multan, Athar Bukhari, a Pakistan People’s Party supported candidate, became president of the Multan High Court Bar Association by securing 2,036 votes. The opposing candidate Qamar Zaman Butt secured 1,858 votes. Sajjad Tangra, the brother of former Multan president district bar Mumtaz Noor Taangra, was elected general secretary with 2,001 votes. His opponent Ashraf Sindhu secured 1,415 votes. Bukhari told The Express Tribune that he wanted to work for an independent judiciary.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2014.