PESHAWAR: Lawyers observed a strike across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday against the gun attack on former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan demanding foolproof security for him by both federal and provincial governments.

The call for strike was given by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, which condemned the Nov 3 attempt on the life of Mr Imran in Punjab’s Wazirabad area and declared it an act of terrorism.

The lawyers boycotted courts, including the high court and its circuit benches in different cities.

In a news release issued here, KP Bar Council vice-chairman Mohammad Ali Khan Jadoon and chairman of the council’s executive committee Mohammad Ilyas Khan said the attack on the PTI chairman had raised questions about the overall security situation in the country.

They said that central leaders of a political party were not safe from terrorist attacks.

The council leader said that staging protests was the fundamental right of citizens and stopping them from from exercising that right was against the Constitution.

They prayed for the early recovery of Mr Imran and other people injured in the Wazirabad attack.

Also in the day, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association condemned the gun attack on the PTI chairman and other participants of the PTI march on Islamabad.

In a meeting chaired by PHCBA president Rehmanullah, the participants said that the attack on Mr Imran and other PTI leaders was meant to cause political tensions in the country.

They said it was the state’s responsibility to provide security to Mr Imran and other march participants.

The participants called for effective measures to check such incidents in future.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2022