PIC attack: Lawyers continue to observe strike in Punjab over arrests

LAHORE: The lawyers continue to observe strike for indefinite period on the call of Punjab Bar Council against the arrest of their colleagues in the wake of PIC attack, ARY News reported on Monday.

The lawyers are observing strike against the arrest of their colleagues over their alleged involvement in the attack over Punjab Institute of Cardiology on Wednesday.

In this regard, the lawyers will not appear before the court in Punjab. The Punjab Bar Council has warned the policemen and officers not to enter the courts in uniform.

In a statement last week, the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan said the bar association “through a unanimous resolution strongly rejects and condemns the unlawful allegations posed on [the] legal fraternity” in the wake of the PIC incident.

“SCBAP downrightly discards the allegations regarding direct involvement of lawyers community attacking the said hospital rather the lawyers’ community gathered outside the PIC building to record peaceful protest against the unwarranted speech from the goons that have been hiding in the ranks of medical community that was the root cause of the reaction which provoked the whole legal fraternity,” the statement read.

It may be noted that, a group of more than 200 lawyers, who had an ongoing ‘tussle’ with the doctors of the PIC, had stormed the hospital on Wednesday, vandalised property and damaged dozens of vehicles. They also set ablaze a police van during their assault.

Dr Asif, Patron-in-Chief of Young Doctors Association (YDA), told ARY News that the physicians and nurses were attacked and brutally tortured by the lawyers at the PIC hospital.