Having won with a majority of nearly 500 votes newly elected President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Shibly Aziz PC yesterday pledged to build an independent and fearless bar.
Former Attorney General and respected counsel Mr. Aziz, immediately after the declaration of the results invited everyone irrespective of affiliations to stand together to form a free and independent bar.
Mr. Aziz also declared that he was going to make an end to the divided bar.
“I invite everyone to stand together as one bar to work towards building a profession with independence, fearlessness and courage and take up matters in a none-partisan manner,” said the veteran counsel addressing those gathered at the Hulftsdorp court premises.
Shibly Aziz won the election with a majority of 482 all island votes together with a lead of 296 from the main Colombo bar. In the outstations he had scored a majority of 186 votes defeating his main contender Palitha Kumarasinghe PC.
Mr. Aziz had scored 1379 votes out of a total polled 2547 in the main Colombo bar.