In a dramatic act on Thursday, lawyer Sikander Bhatti set his official court seat ablaze in Hyderabad's Sindh High Court after Justice Jawad Akbar Sawana refused to pronounce a reserved judgment that had been pending for 11 months in a civil land dispute from Nawabshah.
The case, involving a land dispute that had lingered for years, concerns Bhatti's own family, according to court sources, and had seen several reservations by the judge. He reportedly expressed frustration that the judge had declined to issue the judgment, which had been reserved earlier this year.
Ayaz Tunio, president of the Hyderabad High Court Bar Association, said the incident would trigger an inquiry and that multiple reserved judgments had been pending before Justice Sawana, adding that litigants had grown impatient. He highlighted the broader backlog of cases in Pakistan's courts.
The incident follows rising tensions between lawyers' bodies and Sindh police over procedural concerns, culminating in protests and clashes. Legal circles say the fire was a symbolic protest against systemic delays that have cost families like Bhatti's.
The Bar Association will investigate the incident, and the judge has yet to pronounce the judgment; the case is still pending while the court grapples with a backlog of civil and criminal matters.