Clashes at Pak court as lawyers attempt to break into Chief Justice's courtroom

Clashes erupted at the Lahore High Court (LHC) after enraged lawyers attempted to break a security cordon and enter LHC Chief Justice Mansoor Ali Shah's courtroom where he was heading a full bench hearing against Sher Zaman Qureshi, the head of the bar association of the LHC Multan bench.

The LHC chief justice had, earlier, directed the police to arrest Qureshi and his secretary and produce them in the court on Monday after they failed to appear despite repeated summons in the contempt of court case.

Observing that the sanctity of the court is supreme and there will be no compromise on it, the LHC bench had also ordered the suspension of the lawyers' licences.

Enraged with the courts order, lawyers loyal to Qureshi attempted to break into the chief justice's courtroom and broke down a gate leading to it.

They were also chanting slogans against the LHC chief justice.

A tussle between the two sides is under way as police and Rangers cordoned off the entrance to the courtroom.

Tear gas and water cannon were being used to disperse the protesting lawyers by the authorities.

Meanwhile, the members of the legal fraternity were throwing stones at the LHC building.

Geo News quoted sources, as saying, that the protesting lawyers around 200 in number, included bar members from Multan, Burewala and other areas.

According to the report, Qureshi along with few other lawyers had allegedly misbehaved with Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on July 24 and obstructed judicial proceedings of his court at the Multan bench.

They had also allegedly vandalised and ransacked the court premises and ripped off the nameplate of the judge.