January 10, 2008	Thursday	Zilhaj 30, 1428

HYDERABAD, Jan 9: The Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) on Wednesday decided to boycott courts thrice a week and not allow any lawyer to appear in courts during the boycott days.

The HDBA’s general body meeting further decided that black flags would be hoisted on bar office and the lawyers would wear black armbands as a mark of protest against dismissal and confinement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other higher court judges.

The courts’ boycott would be made on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the meeting said.

The lawyers, meanwhile, staged a rally led by the president of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA) of Hyderabad chapter Abdul Sattar Qazi and HDBA president Abdul Aziz Sheikh. The rally terminated outside the press club.

Mr Kazi said that the people who believed that the courts would not be restored to pre-Nov 3 status were living in a fool’s paradise and the lawyers would never accept defeat to the usurpers. Former HDBA president Chaudhry Bashir Gujjar said that lawyers were fighting for people’s rights and their struggle would continue till the restitution of fundamental human rights.