HYDERABAD: A local court on Thursday remanded a lawyer in judicial custody for 14 days in an armed robbery case.

Police claimed that Advocate Ibrahim Abro was arrested for allegedly robbing Khawaja Shahzad of Rs200,000 around 16 days back in Tando Mohammad Khan.

However, Karachi Bar Association leaders said he had been missing since July 11. To lodge protest against the ‘abduction’ of Advocate Abro and to press the authorities for the early recovery of Advocate Awais Ali Shah, the son of Sindh High Court chief justice who had been kidnapped in Clifton, the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) had earlier given a strike call for July 14.

Tando Mohammad Khan SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar said Ibrahim Abro with his two accomplices, Amanullah Abro and Imran Abro, was arrested on Wednesday noon. He confirmed to Dawn that he was remanded in the judicial custody for 14 days in the robbery case.

However, he added that another case was registered against Ibrahim Abro in Badin district. While appearing before a court, Advocate Abro told journalists that he had come to Tando Mohammad Khan district for the first time. He said the footage showing him in some bank was fake, as he was picked up in a bazaar in Karachi before being subjected to torture.

Lawyers boycott

Litigants in Karachi suffered immensely as the legal fraternity on Thursday observed a boycott of courts here against the arrest of the lawyer. The legal proceedings remained suspended at the city courts as hundreds of cases fixed for the day were not taken up for hearing because of the lawyers’ boycott.

Police arrested Advocate Ibrahim Abro in a Malir locality in some cases registered at the Tando Mohammed Khan and an area magistrate remanded him in prison on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2016