LAHORE: The Lahore Bar Association (LBA) has announced a complete strike and a general house meeting on Thursday (today) to protest four-day work in courts as part of austerity measures amid the Middle East crisis following the US-Israel war on Iran.

In a press release issued by the LBA secretary, the lawyers’ body expressed strong reservations regarding the notifications by the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court regarding ‘austerity measures.’

The bar argues that declaring Friday and Saturday holiday will lead to significant delays in case disposals, causing further backlog for cases already pending for years and resulting in “economic exploitation” of both litigants and lawyers.

The bar also condemned the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments and ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Act 2026, specifically citing the extension of the chairman’s tenure.

It also condemned US-Israel aggression and violence against Iran.

The general house meeting is scheduled for 11:30am on Thursday at Aiwan-i-Adl.

The LBA has directed all members to boycott court proceedings completely as a mark of protest against, what they describe, a threat to the democratic process.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2026