Adnan Farooqui

The events that have happened over the past few weeks need no explanation. Every child in this beloved country of ours has witnessed the lawyers getting out of hand and literally turning into brutes, frankly this is something one could not expect out of a highly educated and sensible fraternity.

Keeping the history aside, because we know of the scuffles that broke out during the lawyers movement, although it is known that it was the police who started harassing these custodians of law while they wished to lead their movement to a peaceful victory, now of course, both sides of the picture should be reviewed before jumping to any conclusions and pointing fingers at one another.

We know and we have seen the footage of the Chief Justice of Pakistan being manhandled by policemen, a person of his stature certainly has dignity and that certain incident is very sad indeed. We know that his counsel, Aitzaz Ahsan, also a prominent figure in the lawyers movement, was taken into custody from somewhere on the Motorway, and was exposed to literally freezing temperatures with no protection whatsoever by policemen.

Now if today, lawyers manhandle an ASI, of which I do not approve of, why does the media call for cancellation of their licenses, why don't they call for those policemen to be dismissed from their duties who handled the most senior man of the judiciary like an animal?

I have to say that yes, the lawyers who manhandled the ASI should be brought to justice, as no one should be allowed to take the law in their own hands. No matter what walk of life he belongs to or whatever might his profession be.

"Something's Amiss" as the famous detective Sherlock Holmes would have retorted would he have been presented the case of the peaceful community of lawyers turning into brutes.

While the movement for the restoration of judiciary was going on in the country, there were some reports from ;lawyers saying that they did not recognize some people in their gatherings who were dressed as lawyers and who were resorting to rioting while the whole movement was supposed to be peaceful. Senior analysts saw this as an attempt to sabotage the movement which was gradually getting much praise from the people of the country, and this was also seen as an attempt by the government to thwart the efforts of the lawyers for a free judiciary, and come to think of it, it actually feels like it was true.

Keeping the same scenario in mind, looking at the present situation where in one week, reports of manhandling of three men, one policeman and two reporters, have came forward, in all cases, the lawyers were seen carrying out these acts so the point of false accusations can be left out.

Has that same group of people returned to now tarnish the popular image of lawyers in front of the country? Or is it really that the lawyers are now considering themselves above the law?