LAHORE, Aug 31: The Punjab Bar Council has called for a complete strike on Friday in protest against the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and continued military operation in Balochistan.

PBC vice-chairman Chaudhry Azhar said here on Thursday that it had sent directions to the Lahore High Court Bar Association at Lahore and benches at Rawalpindi, Multan and Bahawalpur and all district associations to boycott courts in expression of solidarity with the people of Balochistan who continued to face army operation.

He said the military operation in Kohlu in which Nawab Akbar Bugti and others, including army officers and soldiers, were killed had shaken the roots of the federation to the hilt.

The circular issued to bar associations across the province said the country had reached a critical juncture of its history where the already fragile federation had been seriously endangered.

The recent military operation had added fuel to fire and the lawyers’ community feared that the situation would deteriorate further and might reach a situation where it would become uncontrollable.

The PBC, the letter said, felt it necessary to express solidarity with the people and lawyers of an important federating unit who were being systematically alienated from the national affairs.

The circular appealed to the lawyers across the province to abstain from appearing in courts for the whole day on Friday as a gesture of support on the recent demand of the Balochistan Bar Council that the military intervention in the province should be brought to an end.