KARACHI: Litigants and their families here suffered immensely on Tuesday as the lawyers observed a boycott of courts in solidarity with their compatriots in Lahore.

The Sindh Bar Council had announced a province-wide strike to protest the use of water cannons and tear gas against the protesting lawyers on the Lahore High Court premises on Monday.

The members of the legal fraternity stayed away from court proceedings and the bar associations held general body meetings to denounce the incident and demand withdrawal of the warrant issued for the arrest of Lahore High Court Bar Association’s Multan bench president advocate Sher Zaman Qureshi.

The Karachi Bar Association also took out a rally from the City Courts and staged a sit-in on M.A. Jinnah Road, adding to the already chaotic traffic situation in that part of the city.

The courts wore a deserted look and hundreds of cases fixed for the day at the City Courts and district courts in Malir could not be taken up for hearing as the jail authorities had not sent the undertrial prisoners to courts.

The Sindh High Court chief justice also discharged the board (list of cases fixed for Tuesday) on lawyers’ request and the judges heard urgent matters in their chambers.

The legal work at the special courts, including antiterrorism courts, accountability courts and anti-corruption courts, was also affected as the lawyers did not turn up there.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017