The Lahore High Court Bar Association passed a resolution condemning the Joseph Colony incidents on Monday and formed two legal aid committees to ensure fair prosecution of culprits and to monitor the proceedings of a judicial commission formed to probe the incidents.
The Supreme Court Bar Association also condemned the incidents, calling them barbaric.
The LHCBA also decided in its general house meeting to send a delegation to the Joseph Colony to express solidarity with the victims and to assess the rehabilitation activities.
The meeting, chaired by LHCBA President Abid Saqi, was convened to discuss a resolution moved by Advocate Robinson Masih and seconded by 80 lawyers.
The bar announced that it wanted Quaid-i-Azam’s August 11 speech to the Constituent Assembly to be included in the resolution. The bar demanded that the government ensure firm action against those responsible without any exceptions. It also demanded that the government enhance the compensation amount to Rs1.5 million per family.
Addressing the bar members, Saqi said the Joseph Colony incidents were a failure of the state as well as the society.
He said not only the state but also the society should play its role in protecting the rights of all citizens. He said the bar wanted the police to identify the culprits.
Lawyer Hina Jilani praised the bar for convening the session to condemn the incidents. She said this was not the first attack of this kind in the country.
She said it was unfortunate the religion of the majority was being used to victimise the minorities. She said the judicial inquiry would be useless if the bar did not monitor it. She also suggested that the bar arrange free legal aid to the victims to bring the culprits to book.
Advocate Rashid Lodhi condemned the incident, saying destruction of property was un-Islam.
Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar suggested that the names mentioned in the resolution be excluded.
In his resolution, Robinson Masih said the blasphemy laws were being used to victimise Christians and to compel them to leave the country. He said the latest incidents were an example of the state’s failure.
He said the police had made the Christians vacate their houses to help the attackers loot and torch them. He alleged that the extremists were being supported by Peace Committee Senior Vice President Tariq Mahmood, Traders Ittehad Group Senior Vice President Amir Siddique, MNA Malik Riaz, MPA Asad Ashraf, Chief Minister’s Coordinator Saleem Ghazali Butt and the chief minister himself.
Separately, the SCBA condemned the incidents as barbaric. SCBA President Mian Israrul Haq and Secretary Raja Javed Iqbal held a joint press conference and demanded fair investigations into the incidents by an officer not below the rank of additional inspector general of police. They said the government bore responsibility for the incident for not ensuring security for the area’s residents.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2013.