Daily Times

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/LAHORE: The lawyers’ community observed a day of mourning on Monday to condole the demise of leading rights activist and senior lawyer Asma Jahangir.

The majority of the lawyers kept themselves away from routine work and did not plead their cases before courts in Lahore and Karachi. Though, cases proceeded as per schedule in Supreme Court.

In Lahore and Karachi, lawyers spent most of the day sitting in bar rooms, sharing one another’s grief over the loss of a most cherished colleague.

Speaking to Daily Times, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) secretary Safdar Hussain Tarrar said that Asma Jahangir was a tireless advocate for rights of deprived classes irrespective of their gender, class and creed. He said jail and oppression could not force her to bow down before the powers that be.

“She will be remembered in judicial history of the country for her efforts for rule of law. Asma Jahangir was amongst the outspoken and courageous lawyers in the history of Pakistan and should always be remembered as such,” he said.

Lahore High Court Bar Association’s vice president Rashid Mahmood Lodhi said that Jahangir’s death was not just a loss for the legal fraternity but also for the entire nation, and especially for the oppressed classes. He said that she was a symbol of courage and bravery and would always be remembered for her services to the humanity.

“People of Pakistan can never forget Asma Jahangir’s lion hearted struggle to protect human rights, judiciary and the constitution,” he said.

LHCBA’s former secretary Rana Asadullah Khan said that Asma Jahangir was a courageous leader who spent her whole life resisting against all kinds of oppression and no one could compel her to condone any illegality or constitutional violation. “Her greatest contribution has been that she stood like a rock against the military rule of Zia and Musharraf,” he said.

The legal fraternity would continue its mourning on Tuesday and Wednesday on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council, the supreme regulatory body of the legal profession.

Published in Daily Times, February 13^th 2018.