May 14, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1428

QUETTA, May 13: Lawyers in Balochistan on Sunday decided to boycott court proceedings in the province on Monday to condemn the killing of innocent people during violence in Karachi and express solidarity with the victims’ families.

Addressing a press conference at the press club here, president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association Hadi Shakeel Ahmed said that lawyers would also take out a protest procession in the provincial capital.

Urging traders to support the lawyers’ strike call on Monday to express solidarity with the victims of Karachi violence, he said that it was now time for traders, labourers, and students to join the lawyers’ struggle for the judiciary’s independence.

He said that the Balochistan Bar Association, Balochistan High Court Bar Association and the Balochistan Bar Council had voiced concern over the Sindh government’s irresponsible behaviour and for having failed in protecting people’s life and property on on Saturday.

Hadi Shakeel directly held the Sindh government and its coalition partner, the MQM, responsible for the Karachi violence.

He said that while Karachi burned and the victims’ families mourned, President General Pervez Musharraf and the ruling PML leaders rejoiced in in Islamabad, adding that the persistent smile on the president’s face on that occasion proved how much he had been saddened by the Karachi violence.

He said that MQM leaders should follow Chief Justice’s defence panel lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan’s advice and rename their party as ‘Musharraf Qaumi Movement’.