QUETTA, Jan 6: Lawyers across the province boycotted court proceedings on Saturday to protest against the bomb attack on the house of Mohammad Rafiq advocate. The boycott was in response to a joint call for protest given by the Pakistan Bar Council, the Balochistan Bar Association and the Balochistan High Court Bar Association to condemn the Friday night bombing.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, announced that lawyers would continue to boycott court cases until the culprits involved in the attack were arrested.

Mr Kurd claimed that lawyers boycotted court proceedings in Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Hub, Khuzdar, Turbat and Panjgur to express their solidarity with the affected family.

Courts are already closed in Quetta and some other parts of Balochistan because of winter vacations.

The Vice Chairman of the PBC condemned the negligence of police officials, and said they did come to the place of the incident in time despite the fact that the blast took place just a few hundred yards away from the Satellite Police Station.

Mr Kurd also condemned the apathy of provincial and federal lawmakers for not attending the funeral of the two-year-old daughter of Rafiq advocate who was badly injured in the attack on Friday and died on Saturday.

He demanded immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the attack, and urged the government to ensure security to life and property of all the people of the province.

Our Staff Correspondent adds: Aqsa, the three-year-old of a leading lawyer of the Balochistan High Court, who was injured in the hand-grenade attack on Friday, died here on Saturday.

Chaudhry Mohammad Rafiq, his wife and three children were injured in the attack.

On Saturday, Aqsa succumbed to her injuries. She was buried in a local graveyard.

A large number of lawyers, and people belonging to the area attended the funeral.