The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has strongly condemned authorities for registering a case against a senior lawyer, Advocate Akhtar Hussain, for staging a protest against inflation.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the PBC stated that Rawalpindi Police registered a first information report (FR) against Hussain after he held a protest targeting rising prices of essential commodities.

The PBC strongly condemned registration of a case against the jurist, who is a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court.  According to the Constitution, it said, every citizen is entitled to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.

The PBC demanded that the illegal FIR registered against Hussain be immediately withdrawn, and action be taken against those officials who have misused their powers.

Read Lawyers warn of movement if price hike not contained

Over the past year, Pakistan has witnessed a tremendous rise in inflation and recently people and traders across the country rose up in protest in the wake of unprecedented rise in electricity bills.

On September 2, shopkeepers went on strike and pulled their shutters down across the country, while protesters burned tyres on roads to express their anger.

The strike was called by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq and was largely endorsed by trade and business bodies, market associations, lawyer associations and transporters.