LAHORE, May 11: Lawyers in the city and elsewhere in Punjab struck to press their demands for, what they called, “independence of the judiciary”.

Even though they did not perform their professional duty, lawyers kept on their preparation to for a reception for Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to be held in Karachi today (Saturday).

“Lawyers from Lahore and other parts of Punjab will make their presence felt in Karachi,” said Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) General Secretary Sarfraz Cheema.

All lawyers’ bodies, including the Pakistan Bar Council, the Punjab Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the LHCBA, had given strike call. The main cause behind the latest strike call was an alleged attack on the house of SCBA President Munir A Malik in Karachi on Thursday.

Lawyers boycotted all court proceedings and attended hunger strike camps on the premises of the Lahore High Court and Awan-e-Adl. The hunger strike camps have been set up since the filing of a presidential reference against the CJP on March 9.

Lawyers wore black-bands and hoisted black flags atop all bar associations’ offices in the city and the province. They chanted for the ouster of the government and the reinstatement of the CJP.

President General Pervez Musharraf’s reference against the CJP on March 9 provoked a series of protests initially by protests and later by political parties as well in the country.

The LHBA also removed the plaques of former SCBA president Malik Muhammad Qayyum and advocates Jahangir A Jhoja and M Aalamgir for what the bar called their support to the government against lawyers.