LAHORE: Leaders of the bar on Wednesday defended the right of two senior advocates -Asma Jahangir and Dr Khalid Ranjha -to plead before court for the client of their choice.

Doctors and lawyers couldn`t say no to their clients, Azam Nazir Tarar, the vice chairman of Pakistan Bar Council, told Dawn.

Disapproving a protest by a few lawyers against the two senior advocates held the other day, Mr Tarar said a handful of lawyers could not depict the will of the entire legal fraternity.

The protesting lawyers slammed Ms Jahangir and Dr Ranjha for becoming counsel for MQM in a case pending adjudication before the Lahore High Court.

Mr Tarar maintained that every lawyer had the right to defend a client of his/her choice. He pointed out that the bar even did not stop any advocate from representing suspects involved in the killing of lawyers in Daska incident.

Lahore High Court Bar Association President Pir Masood Chishti said political issues did not affect professional responsibilities. He said the bar had been voicing against the unconstitutional acts of former president Pervez Musharraf, but it never stopped lawyers from defending him before courts.

Mr Chishti said Ms Jahangir used to criticise then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for his decisions, but she was the first to take to the streets against his ouster by military dictator Musharraf.

He said the lawyers could not be dictated whom they should or should not represent before courts.