LAHORE: Amanullah Kanrani of the Hamid Khanled group of lawyers was elected as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in its annual election for 2018-19 held on Wednesday.

According to unofficial results, Mr Kanrani secured 1,092 votes in a one-to-one contest with Ali Ahmad Kurd of the Independent group. Mr Kurd got 950 votes.However, Azmatullah Chaudhry of the Independent group was voted in as the SCBA secretary. He got 1,089 votes against his rival Shamim-ur-Rehman Malik of the Professional group, who bagged 873 votes.

In his victory speech, Mr Kanrani pledged to run the bar as a non-partisan entity and said the lawyers were not supposed to stand by any government but the rule of law. He hoped the government and the judiciary would continue to work under the constitution.

The legal fraternity would object if any of the institutions deviated from the constitution, said Mr Kanrani but added: `We will not act as a subordinate to anyone.

He vowed to strive for independence of the bar andunity among lawyers. He said that freedom of the media and independence of the judiciary would be his priority.

He promised to resolve the old issue of housing for lawyers in Islamabad.

Mr Kanrani, who belongs to Balochistan, also promised to raise voice for the people of his province and to try to end their sense of alienation.

On seats for vice presidents in the four provinces, Saleem Akhtar was elected from Balochistan, Khan Afzal Khan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karamat Awan from Punjab and Salahuddin Khan Gandapur from Sindh.

Ahsan Hameed Lilla was elected as additional secretary and Mehmood Ahmad Sheikh as finance secretary.