LAHORE, Feb 7: Lawyers throughout Punjab observed a half-day strike on Tuesday on the call of the Punjab Bar Council to condemn the publication of blasphemous cartoons in Denmark, Norway and France.

The lawyers did not attend courts after 11am and hoisted black flags at the offices of their bars to express resentment against the publication of the depictions. They also held meetings and adopted resolutions criticizing the governments of western countries for failing to proceed against the publishers of the cartoons against the religious sentiments of the one-third Muslim population of the world, calling upon the government to sever diplomatic relations with such countries.

The publication had proved moral bankruptcy of the governments of western countries, said the lawyers, who added that no religion supported any action aimed at slandering the prophets and saints of other religions but the governments of western nations were allowing it only to prove their hostility to Islam.

The bar leaders said the government should not be content with lodging protest with the ambassadors of these countries defending the publication of cartoons, but also expel them from the country. They also called upon the people to boycott the products of these countries.