September 15, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 2, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 14: Lawyers observed complete strike here on Friday against the alleged thrashing and illegal detention of an advocate of the Peshawar High Court by personnel of an intelligence agency.

On a call of the NWFP Bar Council, a one-hour strike was also observed in other districts of the province.

A general body meeting of the council was held which was jointly chaired by Peshawar High Court Bar Association secretary general Ishtiaq Ibraheem and Peshawar District Bar Association president Maulana Shamsul Haq.

The meeting unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the picking up of advocate Ghulam Nabi allegedly by officials of an intelligence agency on Wednesday night. It said the lawyer had been beaten up before release on Thursday.

The meeting also condemned the storming of the Sindh High Court allegedly by activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the killing of advocate Raja Riaz in Karachi.

Lawyers’ representatives Fida Gul, Ishtiaq Ibraheem, Shamsul Haq, Hazrat Said, Yasir Khattak and others spoke on the occasion.

They accused intelligence agencies of playing a ‘dirty game’ and trying to intimidate lawyers so that they called off their movement against Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Some lawyers suggested that they should decide that in future they would not fight the case of any army official. They said the entry of army officials in the high court should be banned.

The lawyers vowed to fully participate in the second phase of the movement for restoration of rule of the law and supremacy of the Constitution.