LAHORE: It was a gloomy day at the Lahore High Court on Wednesday as lawyers observed a complete strike and mourned the brutal killing of innocent children in a terrorist attack on the Army Public School, Peshawar.

A feeling of sadness was also observed among the judges and all others in the high court. Neither lawyers appeared before courts nor did the judges hold proceedings.

The Pakistan Bar Council had given a countrywide strike call to mourn the Peshawar killings. The bar members offered funeral prayers ‘in absentia’ of the children killed in the massacre. The judges and officers of court also attended the funeral prayers.

At the condolence meeting of the bar, the lawyers urged the government and leaders of all political parties to play effective role in elimination of terrorism from the country. They asked the rulers to constitute a parliamentary committee on “counter terrorism” to coordinate with law-enforcement agencies on a permanent basis. They urged the rulers to show zero tolerance against the terrorists by taking Peshawar massacre as first and the last.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014