ISLAMABAD: The dispute among different apex bodies of lawyers further deepened on Wednesday when 11 members of the 23-member Pakistan Bar Council (PBC)expressed concern over the council`s decision to convene a lawyers` representative convention on May 5.

The convention in Islamabad was called by PBC vicechairman Ahsan Bhoon on April 29 in the aftermath of the Supreme Court`s April 20 judgement in the Panama Papers case.

The PBC, being a supervisory body of lawyers, had called the convention with an aim to streamline and give a direction to the calls by different bar associations to observe a countrywide strike to seeks resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

But on Wednesday, 11 members of the PBC issued a press release saying that the convention had not been approved by the council`s full house since no meeting was called for the approval of the programme.

These members are: Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen, Abdul Sattar Khan, Mohammad Maqsood Buttar, Chaudhry Tahir Nasrullah Warriach, Chaudhry Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Mian Mohammad Shafiq Bhandara, Mohammad Raheel Kamran Sheikh, Malik Ghulam Mustafa Kandwal, Rasheed A. Razvi, Mohammad Farogh Naseem and Mohammad Agil.

`We the members of PBC are of the view that the programme organised in such a haste can create a division among the lawyers community,` the statement said, adding that the members demand that the PBC postpone the May 5 convention and join hands with the All Pakistan Lawyers Representative Convention arranged by the Supreme Court Bar Association on May 20 in Lahore.

Meanwhile, SCBA secretary Aftab Ahmed Bajwa said in a statement that 17 of the 22 members had at a meeting of the association`s executive committee on Tuesday agreed not to attend the convention because it had not been approved by the full house of the PBC.

Instead, the statement added, the SCBA would hold its own lawyers convention on the issue of Panama leaks on May 20 at Dr Javed Iqbal Hall in the Lahore High Court building at 10am.

Mr Bajwa said all other high court bar associations, district bar associations and bar councils should give reverence to the apex bar of the country, SCBA, by joining hands in making the convention successful.

The Panama Papers judgement had the potential of streamlining the future of the nation and blocking the ways of corruption in the country, the statement said.

`SCBA is of the concerted view that lawyers should not become a tool of any political party on such a sensitive issue and should avoid the division among the lawyers community,` it said.