LAHORE, March 26 Judicial officers took to the streets on Friday in protest against slapping of a civil judge by a lawyer in Faisalabad earlier this week, highlighting tensions between the bench and the bar.

The civil judges wearing black armbands marched from civil courts to the district and sessions courts after performing judicial duties in their chambers instead of courts.

In Arifwala tehsil of Pakpattan district, four civil judges resigned to protest against the incident.

In Faisalabad, where the ugly incident took place on Monday, 45 sessions and civil judges from all over the district are on a strike.

On Friday, they went on leave saying they would not resume work until the accused advocate, Liaquat Javed, was appropriately penalised for insulting Civil Judge Tariq Mahmood Kahut.

The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Mr Javed and directed police to produce him handcuffed on March 30.

The LHC move annoyed the Faisalabad bar, which put its weight behind the accused and went on an indefinite strike, saying only the Punjab Bar Council was authorised to penalise a lawyer. As if this were not enough, the entire judiciary in Kasur district, comprising 30 sessions and civil judges, went on a two-day strike on Friday to protest against “the blackmail and pressure tactics being employed by the bar”. They also submitted to the LHC applications for month-long leave with a request to transfer them from Kasur.