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PESHAWAR, Feb 19: Lawyers in different cities of the province boycotted court proceedings, staged demonstrations and took out rallies on Monday to condemn Saturday’s suicide attack inside a Quetta court.
A complete strike was observed in Peshawar on the call of the NWFP Bar Council.
Wearing black arm-bands, lawyers stayed away from court proceedings.
A joint protest meeting of the Peshawar High Court and district bar associations was held under the chairmanship of High Court Bar president Mian Attique Shah.
The speakers condemned the blast which killed 16 people, including a senior civil judge and some lawyers.
Most of the speakers said that the ongoing wave of terrorism was a result of the policies of the federal government towards the tribal region and Balochistan. They regretted that intelligence agencies had miserably failed to check suicide bombings in the country and trace out the culprits. They said those involved in such heinous acts were neither serving the religion nor the country.
The meeting offered fateha and prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the departed souls in eternal peace.
The meeting was followed by a procession taken out by a large number of lawyers. Later, the procession dispersed peacefully near the high court entrance.
Meanwhile, judges of the Peshawar High Court held a condolence meeting in the high court on Monday on the deaths of the senior civil judge of Quetta, members of the bar and others in the suicide incident.
The participants of the meeting, presided over by Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan, offered fateha for the departed souls and prayed for speedy recovery of the injured. They condemned the cowardly act of terrorism.
They urged the judges, lawyers and the general public to show patience and forge unity in their ranks with the resolve to thwart the nefarious designs of the forces bent upon destroying peace in the country. They expressed the hope that the lawyers and the general public would cooperate with security measures taken for the sake of their safety.
MARDAN: Lawyers boycotted courts proceedings and marched on streets in protest against the suicide bombing.
Free Legal Aid Committee president Azizur Rehman Khan said that it was an attack on the judiciary. Targeting courts and those associated with it was part of a conspiracy, he added.
HARIPUR: The lawyers’ community took out a procession from the District Courts building which ended at the Bar Council Hall. The protesters were carrying placards inscribed with anti-terrorism slogans.
Speaking on the occasion, Saeed Akhtar Khan, senior vice-president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said that the killing of a judge and lawyers inside a courtroom pointed to a poor law and order situation in the country.
Javed Qureshi, a former president of the district bar and provincial general secretary of the Pakistan Democratic Party, said that ill-conceived policies of the government had landed the country in trouble.
“It is a repercussion of our interference in others’ affairs,” he claimed.
Haripur District Bar president Nawaz Khan Swati and General Secretary Asad Saeed Khan also spoke.
MINGORA: Lawyers wearing black arm-bands staged a protest march. Starting from the District Bar Room, they marched up to the Nishat Chowk, where a meeting was held.
Speakers said it was an attack on the integrity of the country. They said they would continue their protest till the government cracked down on the elements involved in the suicide attacks.
KARAK: Lawyers boycotted the court proceedings to express solidarity with the victims of the Quetta suicide bombing.
