Zubair Qureshi
Advocate Zahid Mehmood Raja who is currently in Adiala Jail has been elected President of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) (2021-22) after a close contest with his rival Naveed Hayat Malik.
Both Raja and Malik are facing charges of leading a mob that stormed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) building earlier this month (Feb 8) and organizing an attack on the Chief Justice Block.
They were booked under 7-ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act) and contempt notices were also issued to them for the unfortunate incident that is considered Black Day in the history of the Islamabad High Court.
In Saturday’s elections of the IHCBA, Zahid Mehmood Raja secured 585 votes while Naveed Malik bagged 486 votes. According to the Chairman of the election committee Umair Baloch, polling took place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in a peaceful and uninterrupted way and a large number out of the total 2,163 voters exercised their right of vote.
According to the results, Tasadduq Hanif was elected Secretary of the Bar with 767 against 298 votes of Chaudhry Tanveer Akhtar.
Advocate Fazal Elahi secured 649 votes while his rival candidate Muhammad Rustam Malik bagged 370 votes. For the office of Joint Secretary Akhtar Hussain was elected with 597 votes while his runner up Yasmin Yasin Sindhu could get 445 votes.
Irfanullah Advocate with 609 votes was elected Finance Secretary against Rais Abdul Wahid got 346 votes.
After the announcement of the results supporters and voters of the winning candidates chanted slogans to express solidarity with their new leadership.
Strict security measures were taken on this occasion and police and paramilitary forces were deployed inside and outside the IHC building to meet any untoward incident.
While talking to Pakistan Observer a number of lawyers expressed their hope that soon their president would come out of the jail and not only he but the other lawyers too, who are facing cases in the wake of Feb 8 IHC attack would be cleared of all charges.
“Today’s elections have demonstrated that lawyers are united and there are no differences among them with regard to issues of collective good of the community,” said Advocate Sohail Chaudhry the outgoing Secretary of the IHC Bar while talking to Pakistan Observer.
He expressed the hope that bench and bar would work together to resolve the issues and to provide speedy justice to the litigants.
