MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 26: Mirpur-based lawyers boycotted all court proceedings on Wednesday to protest against delay by police and the administration in arresting the accused involved in an assault on one of their senior colleagues two weeks ago.

They also took out a procession from the premises of the district courts and, after passing through the city's busiest Chowk-i-Shaheedan, held an open meeting outside the deputy commissioner's office.

Raja Tariq Pervaiz Nawabi, a senior advocate based in Mirpur, was assaulted by some unknown people in the jurisdiction of the Thothal police station at midnight in which he lost one eye and suffered other serious wounds and is still undergoing treatment in an Islamabad hospital.

Speaking on the occasion, AJK Supreme Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Mansab Dad, District Bar Association Mirpur Riaz Inqilabi, former AJK law minister Chaudhry Ali Muhammad Chacha and others alleged that the administration and police had failed to maintain law and order in Mirpur and the city had been virtually left at the mercy of unscrupulous elements.

Residents of Mirpur contributed nearly Rs4 billion to the national kity in shape of different taxes every year but in return there was no security to their lives and properties, they said.

They demanded of the government to detail special force for the protection of the residents of Mirpur. They also warned that if the attackers were not arrested and brought to justice, they would continue their protest. However, a Mirpur-based source told Dawn that lawyers would resume work in courts on Thursday after whcih they would take out a procession.