Pak to issue ordinance against erring lawyers

ISLAMABAD: Amidst protests by the legal fraternity against the emergency in Pakistan, the government plans to issue an ordinance that will give sweeping powers to courts to take action against erring lawyers.
    
Attorney General Malik Qayyum said the ordinance to be issued soon will empower courts to act against lawyers who commit 'contempt of court or do things not permitted by the law'.
    
The government's move comes days after the Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association called on judges to indefinitely boycott superior courts and organise rallies to oppose the emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf on November 3.
    
Under the ordinance, the courts will have the power to cancel the licences of lawyers, Qayyum told Dawn News channel on Friday. "The licence to practise doesn't give lawyers powers to defame judges," he said.
    
Currently, the bar councils have the power to cancel licences of lawyers.
    
But Qayyum said the government felt the 'exercise of this power by bar councils is inadequate and mala fide'. He said, "There is a mafia in control of these organisations."
     
The lawyers' bodies have said they will take action against any lawyers who appear in court.
     
Lawyers were at the forefront of protests when Musharraf tried to dismiss Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March. Though he was subsequently reinstated by the apex court, Musharraf sacked Chaudhry shortly after imposing emergency. Chaudhry is  currently under house arrest in Islamabad.