KARACHI, May 31: The legal fraternity on Thursday observed a complete boycott of the Sindh High Court, the City Courts and the Malir District Courts proceedings in line with the Pakistan Bar Council’s ongoing campaign against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Members of Karachi Bar Association took out a procession from the City Courts premises and blocked M. A. Jinnah Road for about 30 minutes. They raised slogans against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and other components of the Sindh coalition. They also torched an effigy of General Pervez Musharraf to give vent to their anger over his action against the CJ.

Meanwhile, at a general body meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) on Thursday, leaders of various organisations of lawyers asked Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim to stop his anti-judiciary propaganda, warning that lawyers would otherwise lay a siege of the CM’s House.

Members of the Pakistan Bar Council Mohammad Yasin Azad and Mustafa Lakhani, Vice-Chairman of the Sindh Bar Council Mohammad Amin Lakhani, General Secretary of the SHCBA Munir-ur-Rehman and member of the SHCBA Nihal Hashmi addressed the meeting.

They noted that the chief minister had constantly been targeting the judiciary ever since the reference against the CJ was filed by General Pervez Musharraf.

“The government is baffled by lawyers’ movement for the independence of the judiciary and has started using mean tactics to weaken it, but lawyers would not stop it until the achievement of its goal,” they said.

They accused the chief minister of making desperate attempts to cover up his government’s failures, that had exposed on May 12, by resorting to issuing anti-judiciary statements. Terming his remarks contemptuous, they told the colleagues that a petition against his act had already been filed in the Sindh High Court.

The leaders also condemned those who were issuing threats to journalists, and pledged legal support to the victims.

The Karachi Bar Association also held its general body meeting at the City Courts on Thursday.

KBA General Secretary Naeem Qureshi, Joint Secretary Aamir Niaz Khan, executive committee members Abdul Hafeez Baloch, K.K. Javaid and Sakhi Ghazali, as well as other members including Mehmood-ul-Hassan, Hakim Shaikh, Aaqil Lodhi, Naheed Afzaal, Shoa-un-Nabi and Ibrahim Azeem spoke on the occasion.

They condemn the chief minister’s undue criticism of judiciary and legal fraternity, and demanded his removal. They also called for instituting a high treason case against him under Section-6 of the Constitution.

They also deplored the US and UK governments for supporting the military dictator in Pakistan, and said this was in contravention of their claims that they opposed dictatorship. The general body decided that lawyers would come to courts during the one-month summer vacation to continue the movement.

The lawyers criticised the conduct and attitude of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), saying that it could terrorise people but could not win their hearts. They also shrugged off threats, and said tactics of intimidation and harassment were not a new thing for a lawyer.

PTI: General Secretary of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf’s lawyer wing Attiq Qureshi has said that the PTI intends to file a petition in the Sindh High Court against the MQM and the Sindh government against wall chalking against Imran Khan and imposition of restrictions on his movement. He said his party would also plan rallies if the they did not refrain from such actions.