QUETTA, Oct 1: The lawyers community on Monday boycotted court proceedings in the city and district headquarters of the province on the call of the Lawyers’ Action Committee and observed a black day to condemn violence against lawyers and journalists on September 29.

They vowed to continue their struggle for the independence of judiciary. The protesters, holding blackflags and wearing black armbands, chanted anti-Musharraf slogans and took out a procession from the district court, which passed through the Jinnah road and Manan chowk and culminated at the press club.

Balochistan Bar Association president Baz Mohammad Kakar and Balochistan High Court

Bar Association president Shakeel Ahmed Hadi addressed the rally.

They said the Islamabad police, Anti-Terrorism Force, Punjab rangers and plainclothes security men tortured lawyers, including senior members of the bar, and mediapersons, adding that scores of lawyers and journalists had suffered serious injuries.

They lauded the efforts of the lawyers’ and journalists’ communities which were challenging the unconstitutional and illegal acts of the Musharraf government.

The lawyers maintained that the movement for independence of judiciary, supremacy of the Constitution and rule of law would continue till achievement of their objectives.

The speakers said that lawyers and journalists had not violated the law but that the law-enforcement agencies had been directed by the high-ups to teach a lesson to the opponents of Gen Musharraf.