22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

LAHORE, Jan 21: A joint session of lawyers' representative bodies has resolved to support the boycott of courts on Friday in protest against the arrest and interrogation of nuclear scientists.

The resolution was adopted at a joint session of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Lahore Bar Association on Wednesday which demanded that the government should explain if the country's nuclear programme was safe.

The resolution was supported by Dr Farooq Hasan, Ahmad Awais, Naseer Bhutta and a number of other lawyers who condemned the 'maltreatment' of nuclear scientists.

They alleged that the government was insulting the 'national heroes' at the behest of the only superpower. They said the government's failure to react against a 'humiliating' statement of US Secretary of State Colin Powel against Pakistan's nuclear scientists amounted to its agreement with the powers which wanted dispensing with the nuclear capability. The resolution appealed to lawyers across the country to abstain from courts after 10.30am on Friday (Jan 23).