Updated on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, 00:00 IST

Islamabad , Nov 27: The Lahore High Court Bar Association has cancelled the membership of Pakistan Attorney General Malik Qayyum and dared him to come and sit in the bar.

Holding Qayyum responsible for amending the legal practitioners and Bar councils act to allow the Supreme Court to take action against lawyers, the association passed a unanimous resolution banning him from the bar.

The move was put before the Bar Association by its President Ahsan Bhoon and passed unanimously, 'The Nation' newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The general house meeting of the Lahore Bar Association also banned Qayyum's entry to the Bar premises.

"I want to make it clear that the Lahore Bar Council is an autonomous body and could not be made to bow (before anyone). If Qayyum thinks he has taken away powers from the Bars to revoke licenses or cancel memberships, I dare him to come and sit in the Bar now," Bhoon said.

The Bar Association also passed a resolution that said the Bar would cancel the membership of lawyers who appeared in the courts of judges who have taken oath under Emergency regulations.

The meeting demanded the immediate release of leading lawyers Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmad Kurd, former judge Tariq Mehmood and other members of the legal fraternity detained under emergency rules. A resolution against the entry of police in the Bar's premises was also passed unanimously.

Bureau Report