QUETTA: Leaders of various lawyers’ organisations on Thursday demanded of the government to address the issue of missing persons of Balochistan and implement the judicial commission’s recommendations regarding the attack on lawyers on August 8, 2016.

Sixty-two lawyers were among 73 people who were killed eight years ago when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Civil Hospital, Quetta, where lawyers had gathered after the killing of Balochistan Bar Association president Bilal Anwar Kasi, who was shot dead in a targeted attack.

A condolence reference was held at the Balochistan High Court on the anniversary of the attack whereseveral resolutions were adopted.

The lawyers, including former Supreme Court Bar Association president Ali Ahmed Kurd, Senator Hamid Khan, Advocate Muneer Ahmed Kakar, Sadiq Ali Mohmand, Muneer Ahmed Bhatti, and others, demanded that the review petition filed in the Supreme Court regarding the report of then justice Qazi Faez Isa about the attack should be fixed for hearing.

Demand implementation of judicial commission’s recommendations on Aug 8 Quetta suicide attack

The lawyers also announced that if terrorism cases filed against lawyers were not withdrawn, they would launch a country-wide movement from Lahore in September.

Through another resolution, they expressed concern over increasing incidents of terrorism and termed it failure of law-enforcement agencies and rejected the launching of operation Azm-i-Istehkam in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Balochistan.

The lawyers also rejected the compensation announced by the government for missing persons’ families.

“We reject the offer of paying Rs5 million compensation to each family of missing persons,” the resolution said, adding that instead of announcing the compensation, the government should recover all missing persons.

Another resolution demanded that cases against civilians, which are being heard in military courts, should be shifted to civil courts and all political prisoners in the custody of the military should be released.

The resolution also termed the parliament’s recent amendments to the Elections Act “an interference in the verdict of an independent judiciary”.

The lawyers’ organisations also expressed solidarity with the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, which had been holding protests across the province over the past few weeks.

Speaking at the reference, the lawyers called for unity like the 2007 movement for success of any movement for restoration of real democracy in the country.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2024