February 11, 2008	Monday	Safar 03, 1429

PESHAWAR, Feb 10: The NWFP Bar Council on Sunday gave call for boycotting all the courts across the province on Feb 11 (Monday) against the thrashing and arrest of lawyers by the police in Islamabad.

The vice-chairman of the council, Qazi Muhammad Naeem, told journalists that he had already conveyed to all the district bar associations to boycott the courts in their respective districts.

“We condemn the state terrorism let loose against the lawyers especially the Saturday’s incident when hundreds of lawyers were severely beaten and dosed with water by the law enforcing agencies,” said Mr Naeem.

Mr Naeem and Saeed Akhter, vice president of Supreme Court Bar Association, ondemned the Saturday’s incident and stated that the lawyers’ movement could not be fizzled out with use of brute force.

About the decision of Pakistan Bar Council in a lawyers convention in Islamabad about observing boycott of all the courts till Feb 18, Mr Naeem said that it was victory of the NWFP Bar Council and lawyers of the province as they had opposed the earlier PBC decision of to limit the boycott of superior courts to only a single day a week.

Mr Akhter also welcomed the decision of PBC, stating that it proved that the stand taken by the NWFP lawyers was correct.

When asked whether they would also observe boycott of the subordinate courts in accordance with the fresh PBC decision, he said the decision would be taken up in their meeting on Monday.

A representative committee of the lawyers is also scheduled to meet the Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice Muhammad Raza Khan in connection with registration of an FIR against 15 lawyers. The committee members are: President PHC Bar Association, Abdul Lateef Afridi, Pakistan Bar Council Executive Committee’s chairman Qazi Muhammad Anwer, Saeed Akhter, presidents of PHCBA of Abbotabad and Dera Ismail Khan circuit benches, Tehmas Khan Jadoon and Daud Khan respectively, and Barrister Baachaa.

The committee was constituted in a meeting of the entire bar associations and bar council here on Friday last. The said meeting had decided to continue boycott of the superior courts till Feb 20. It had also decided that in case the FIR against the lawyers was not withdrawn then they would be forced to start continuous boycott of the subordinate courts. Presently, they have been observing boycott of subordinate courts only on Saturdays and two hours on every other working day.