Lawyers attacked and manhandled reporters and cameramen on the premises of the Lahore High Court on Thursday after the hearing of a suo motu case pertaining to the thrashing of a policeman and reporters by some lawyers in a sessions court last week.
According to the Dawn, a high court bench was hearing the case when a large number of lawyers present in the courtroom started shouting slogans against the media. The bench adjourned the hearing for August 13. The lawyers, led by Lahore Bar Association vice-president MR Awan, attacked reporters and cameramen outside the court, pelted vans of TV channels with stones and tried to push them out of the court premises.
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Journalists later held a rally at the GPO Chowk in protest against the attack. Leaders of the Punjab Union of Journalists and Lahore Press Club urged the bar leadership to initiate disciplinary action against the lawyers who had attacked the journalists and brought a bad name to the legal fraternity.
Black flags were hoisted at the press club building. The journalists decided to set up a press freedom camp there, ban the entry of lawyers into the club and boycott the coverage of bar activities.
Journalist unions in different cities and towns of the country condemned what they termed black coats’ vandalism and held protests rallies.
The Media Commission Pakistan (MCP) has condemned lawyers’ highhandedness and physical abuse of journalists in two recent incidents of violence against media personnel, according to the Daily Times. It said lawyers had forgotten the support media had provided them during the movement for the restoration of judiciary.
MCP President IA Rehman said such attacks on the media by lawyers had “brought them only shame”. “Lawyers have conveyed a message of being opposed to freedom of expression, which has belittled them in the eyes of society and media,” he said. Calling the incidents regrettable, Rehman called for an inquiry and bringing the culprits to book.
