Web desk: The Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) has suspended the practising licence of Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq for representing TikToker Rajab Butt before a Karachi court on Thursday.
Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq was representing the TikToker despite the local bar having called a strike.
The Punjab Bar Council’s Executive Committee took the action after getting a letter from the Karachi Bar Association’s president and general secretary.
The letter addressed a “video circulating on social media in which Advocate Ashfaq was seen appearing before the Karachi City Courts while representing TikToker Rajab Butt during an ongoing lawyers’ strike,” said Zabiullah Nagra.
“The executive committee unanimously decided to suspend Advocate Ashfaq’s licence to practice law with immediate effect,” it stated.
“It further observed that the advocate appeared before the courts despite the strike, allegedly accompanied by private guards or individuals in clear violation of the strike restrictions and the established canons of the legal profession,” the order read.
PbBC said that the advocate’s statements against the legal fraternity were “serious professional impropriety”.
“These remarks reportedly caused divisions within the legal fraternity, leading to confrontation and discord among lawyers,” it added.
The order also said that Advocate Ashfaq’s actions caused “dispute and disharmony, seriously harming the reputation, unity, and integrity of the legal community.”
It noted that he was registered with the Punjab Bar Council in 2010 and with the high court in 2012.
The council added that as a practising lawyer, Advocate Ashfaq is “duty bound to uphold the dignity and high standing of the legal profession at all times”.
