BAHAWALPUR: The Lahore High Court Bar Association (Bahawalpur) president,KhairMuhammadBhadera, has demanded a judicial inquiry into a row between the district administration and lawyers resulting in registration of a case against lawyers.

Advocate Bhadera, while speaking at a press conference at his office here on Tuesday, expressed his concern over the confrontation and stressed the need for a dialogue to solve the issue. He said the Punjab Bar Council and the chief justice of the LHC had been informed about the incident.

Malik Imtiaz Awan, against whom Additional District Collector Ms Imrana Ajmal`s reader Khalid Mehmood got registered a case under 7-ATA and other offences on Sept 9, denied attempting to hit the collector with a paperweight or snatching the file of the case which was being heard by her. He claimed that he had only asked the district collector that he wanted his case to be heard by anyotherrevenue ofHcialinsteadofheras she (Ms Imrana Ajmal) had been approached and a man identified as Qasim Chishti, Zonal Manager of Zari Taragiati Bank (ZTB) Ltd, had given herachitaboutthe case.

He also alleged that he was manhandled by the staff of her office. And when he and other lawyers went to the court room in connection with other cases, they were kept in illegal confinement there for some time, he added.

Meanwhile, a writ petition with a request to quash the FIR has been filed by Malik Imtiaz in the Bahawalpur Bench of the Lahore High Court. According to the petitioner, a division bench comprising Justice Zafrullah Khan Khal(wani and Justice Shahzad Ahmed Khan has fixed Sept 17 for the hearing of his writ petition.

The lawyers of district and high court bar associations continued their strike against the registration of a case against Malik Imtiaz and his associates.

On the other hand, the sanitation staff of the city TMA and the Bahawalpur Waste ManagementCompany (BWMC) remained away from duties for the fifth day in most areas of the city.

Ms Imrana Ajmal told Dawn that during the hearing of the cases, a petitioner came to her and stated that `his counselhas gone to high court and as such his case may kindly be adjourned and a new date of hearing may be fixed for his case.` At this, she added, she asked her reader to bring the ble of the petitioner`s case without knowing that Malik Imtiaz was the counsel.

She said Malik Imtiaz got offended and tried to pressure her to decide the case in the absence of the petitioner`s counsel and had mala fide intention.

She said she could not recall the name of the petitioner who had asked her for adjournment of his case due to the absence of his counsel.

PROTEST: Residents of several areas on Tuesday protested against the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) for poor sanitation and overflowing manholes.

They took out a rally condemning the TMA officials and demanded that the higher-ups come to their rescue.