Eight Pakistan Bar Council members reject proposed changes to council rules

Eight members of the Pakistan Bar Council have rejected proposed changes that would make the council’s proceedings and deliberations confidential.

In a letter to the council secretary, the members argued that the body regulating Pakistan’s legal profession should instead operate openly. They said all proceedings should be accessible because the council is an elected body representing the wider legal fraternity.

“We are not a private club or some secretive government agency,” the two-page letter said. The signatories were Abid Shahid Zuberi, Muhammad Maqsood Buttar, M Shafqat Mehmood-Chauhan, Munir Ahmed Kakar, Abdul Sattar Khan, Salman Akram Raja, Salahuddin Ahmed and Qazi Muhammad Arshad.

The letter was also sent to Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, who serves as the Pakistan Bar Council’s ex-officio chairman. It stressed that the council’s proceedings, deliberations and business should generally remain open, transparent and available for scrutiny.

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We are not a private club or some secretive government agency.