PESHAWAR: The lawyers community observed boycott of courts across the province against giving extension to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) by the federal government and filing of a petition in the Islamabad High Court for suspending pronouncement of judgment by a special court hearing retired General Pervez Musharraf’s high treason case.

The strike was observed on the call of Pakistan Bar Council, which was also endorsed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, the apex body of lawyers in the province. Lawyers mostly stayed away from proceedings of different courts, including the Peshawar High Court.

Several cases had to be adjourned due to non-appearance of the lawyers.

This was the second strike by the lawyers in the province within a week. Earlier, on Monday they had boycotted courts’ proceedings to protest desecration of the Holy Quran in Norway.

The Pakistan Bar Council had given the strike call while terming the government’s move of giving extension to the present COAS an unconstitutional act. The council had also accused the federal government of trying to save Pervez Musharraf by filing a petition in the Islamabad High Court, following which the special court’s decision of pronouncing its judgment on Nov 28 (Thursday) was set aside.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019