Daily Times

Sir: The lawyers’ movement to restore former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had both its positive and negative effects. On the negative side, it bolstered the courage of the lawyers’ community for all the wrong reasons. Some lawyers in Lahore locked up the courtroom of Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Farrukh Hussain when he refused bail to a businessman who was accused of issuing a cheque that was dishonoured. The cheque had quite a big amount of Rs 35 million, which shows that the businessman might have paid hefty fees to his lawyers to get him off the hook. Obviously, the businessman at the time of issuing the cheque must have known if it would be cashed or not. To protect such a fraudulent person was unethical at the first place. It is however not the first time when the lawyers stormed the court and booed the judge. It has happened often, which is a clear disregard for the law and that too by the lawyers’ community. It is shameful. Had such an act of vandalism taken place in Norway, the lawyers would have been sent to the Tundra region for a few years.

DR A P SANGDIL

Oslo

Norway