Saturday, April 12, 2008, Rabi-ul-Sani 5,1429    

Lawyers boycott courts, announce 3-day mourning

Observer Report

Lahore—The lawyers community here Friday announced a three-day mourning period starting today on the killing of several persons in Karachi in Wednesday’s riots, and observed complete boycott of courts to protest the incident.

The lawyers of Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and Lahore District Bar Association (LDBA) observed a strike and did not appear before the courts following the decision to mourn the killing of more than 12 innocent persons including lawyers in Karachi.

A protest camp was also set up under the aegis of “Save the Judiciary Committee” (SJC) to protest the dismissal of judges and the recent Karachi riots. SJC president Abdul Rasheed Qureshi while addressing the participants, condemned the killings and stated that the incident was planned to harm and discredit the lawyers movement.

Participants chanted slogans against those responsible for the Karachi carnage and demanded an independent inquiry into the incident, and exemplary punishment for the culprits involved.

Karachi lawyers also boycotted court proceedings on Friday to protest against violent incidents of April 9. They observed funeral prayers in absentia for the persons died in violence.

A procession of lawyers after the prayers visited Tahir Plaza where six persons including Altaf Abbasi Advocate were burnt to death at chamber 616. The lawyers observed Fateha for the deceased.

The lawyers also passed a resolution to rename Tahir Plaza as Shaheed Plaza in memory of the martyrs of April 9 incidents. NWFP Bar Council also announced a three-day mourning and boycott of courts against Karachi violence incidents. Bar Council meeting, presided over by the executive committee chairman, Saeed Akhtar, while taking this decision strongly condemned the violence incidents.

The meeting decided that Friday and Saturday court proceedings would be totally boycotted and directed the associations all across the province to offer ‘Ghaibana Nimaz-e-Janaza’ of all those lawyers, who died in Karachi violence incidents.