SHC website goes offline again
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court’s (SHC) official web page went offline again on Friday, leaving hundreds of lawyers unaware of whether or not their cases were fixed before a bench of the SHC.
“The website had earlier gone off on November 3. It was then restored on November 15 but went off again a day later,” a lawyer told Daily Times.
Another lawyer complained that instead of discharging the cases or adjourning the matter, adverse orders were being passed. “It is common practice that if a lawyer remains absent and his client personally appears before a bench and seeks an adjournment, the client’s request is allowed and the matter is either adjourned or treated as ‘kept aside’.” He said adverse orders reflect badly on a lawyer’s career and bar associations must find a way to overcome such orders in cases where lawyers refused to appear before the court.
Meanwhile, leaderless lawyers seem to have lost steam as no anti-Emergency protest of any significance was reported Friday from the City Courts and the SHC. There has been no general body meeting at the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) since the past three days, while the SHC Bar Association (SHCBA) had already announced that there will be no general body meeting on Friday.
“We are waiting and banking on support from the people, the masses who must come out and participate in this historic battle for the restoration of democracy, democratic institutions and for an independent judiciary,” said a lawyer whose father has been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) for 90 days.A senior member of the KBA told Daily Times that a senior lawyer had attempted to convene a general body meeting at the KBA but the response was lukewarm due to the fear of arrests. “Only those are let off the hook who compromise and give written assurance that they would stay away from further protests.”
However, the son of another senior lawyer who has been detained under the MPO maintained that the arrests and detentions were a repressive measure but could not deter the lawyers’ from their movement for an independent judiciary.
Source: Daily Times
Date:11/17/2007
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