PESHAWAR: Lawyers protest against Bajaur air strike
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Nov 4: Lawyers observed a strike here on Saturday and boycotted court proceedings all over the province and constituted a fact-finding committee about the air strike on a seminary in the Bajaur Agency.
The committee will visit the agency and ascertain whether the attack was carried out by US drones or by Pakistani security forces.
Members of the NWFP Bar Council, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) and the District Bar Peshawar held a joint meeting. It was chaired by president of the NWFP Bar Council, Syed Attique Shah.
PHCBA president Mohammad Attiq Shah, NWFP Bar Council’s vice-president Kifayatullah Khalil, Ghulam Nabi, Barrister Bacha, Hidayatullah Afridi and Aman Khan condemned the attack and said that the Pakistan Army had turned itself into a band of mercenaries, willing to kill innocent people for money.
They criticised the government and stated that the attack was carried out by US drones while the government owned responsibility for it to avoid embarrassment.
The fact-finding committee will be led by Barrister Bacha. Its other members are Qaiser Rasheed, Ghulam Nabi, Kareem Mehsud and Ahmed Zeb.
Speakers regretted that instead of upholding the supremacy of law, the government was taking illegal steps. They said that the air attack was against the constitution and the judiciary should take notice of it.
The meeting was followed by a protest procession, which was taken out from the premises of the high court.
PPI adds: The lawyers criticised the government and warned that they would wage a jihad against the army if it did not stop killing Muslims, especially the Pakhtoons, in the name of the so-called war on terror.
Our Kohat correspondent adds: Lawyers in Kohat boycotted courts on Saturday to condemn the bombardment, resulting in the killing of 80 people.
Abdur Rauf, president of the Kohat Bar Association, termed the action a shameful act and demanded of the president and the prime minister to quit their posts.
He also demanded an independent inquiry into the incident.
He said that the people had the right to ask the government the reasons behind the killings of a large number of innocent people.
“It should tell people if it was a mistake or a pre-emptive strike. People should also know if the US took part in the operation, the government should not cover up its involvement,” president of the Bar association said.
