PESHAWAR: The lawyers’ community observed a strike across the province on the call of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC) on Tuesday against the murder of a senior lawyer in Bannu district a day earlier.

Bar associations in different districts condemned the killing of Bashir-ur-Rehman Burki and called upon the government to arrest his killers at the earliest.

The deceased was killed by unknown motorcyclists near the Bannu Judicial Complex when he was returning home.

President of Peshawar High Court Bar Association Bahlol Khattak, KPBC members including Syed Mubashir Shah Advocate, Noor Alam Khan, Nouman Kakakhel, president of Peshawar District Bar Association Amjad Ali Marwat, vice-president of Mohmand District Bar Association Salim Raza Safi, and other senior lawyers expressed concern over the incidents of violence against lawyers and demanded of the government to provide security to the legal fraternity.

In separate statements, they asked the government to enact the proposed Lawyers Protection Act so as to ensure protection to life of lawyers. They also demanded that lawyers be permitted to keep licensed weapons for their safety.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2021