A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony
By OMAR K.
[Editors' Note: The following was written by a Karachi based lawyer, Omar K. Throughout his legal career he has been active in social causes, including prisoner's rights and causes and the issue of forced evictions carried out by the state. Omar's friends are now incredibly worried for his safety as he continues to be outspoken and active in resisting the draconian measures passed to put down the judiciary and the lawyers in Pakistan. The following is his account of living as a lawyer under this increasingly brutal emergency]
On November 5, 2007, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, heavily armed police, intelligence and other law enforcement agencies laid siege on the courts of Pakistan. As usual, and like most lawyers, I arrived at 815 at the High Court of Sindh. I was greeted at the gate by a policemen brandishing his weapon at me and asking me why I had come to Court. I told him I was a lawyer upon which he asked me to show my identity. I complied. Hurling abuses at me he "advised" that I should return if I did not want to get a beating and go to jail. I looked at the usual guard of the court premises but his refusal to meet my eye convinced me that there was nothing he could do. I did not return and instead entered the court premises. I felt that if I returned, I will have betrayed my own principles of standing for justice and fair play. I sensed that they would be aggression from the police but why would they want to hurt a non-political, non-active and gentle person who did not believe in violence. A short while later the fallacy of my beliefs was to be exposed.
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