On the morning of 8 February 2021, a group of lawyers marched from the district courts in Islamabad to the Islamabad High Court (IHC). They had been angered by the demolition of illegally built lawyers' chambers on public land, carried out under court orders. At the High Court, according to the court's own later account, they threw stones and flower pots at the Chief Justice's block, broke in, and kept the Chief Justice and other judges confined in his chambers for most of the working day. Police and other law enforcement eventually ended the stand-off. Offices in the building, including areas used by court staff, were damaged.
The court later called it a "Black Day" in Pakistan's judicial history.
How the court responded
The IHC registrar filed complaints against lawyers identified from CCTV footage and eyewitness accounts, seeking action under the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973. After issuing show-cause notices, the court suspended the licences of a number of lawyers. Several lawyers were arrested and charged under criminal law; some were granted bail.
In June 2021 the IHC recalled its suspension orders and restored the licences of 21 lawyers. It directed the bar councils to act in accordance with the law, giving the lawyers a hearing consistent with the right to a fair trial under Article 10-A of Pakistan's Constitution.
Who disciplines lawyers in Pakistan
Lawyers in Pakistan are licensed and disciplined by elected bar councils: the Pakistan Bar Council at national level, provincial councils such as the Punjab Bar Council, and the Islamabad Bar Council. Councils can suspend or cancel licences for professional misconduct after disciplinary proceedings. Because the councils are elected by lawyers, critics say they are sometimes reluctant to act against members, while lawyers' groups argue that self-regulation protects the profession's independence from the state.
Why it matters
Pakistan's lawyers have a proud record of standing up for judicial independence, most famously in the movement of 2007–09. The 2021 attack sat uneasily with that history, and many senior lawyers condemned it. The episode shows a tension present in every legal system: a profession that must be independent of government also has to hold its own members to account.