KARACHI, April 6: The lawyers on Friday continued their campaign in Sindh High Court, the city courts and Malir district court against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

Four members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) observed a token hunger strike in the bar room. They were Waleed Ansari, Abdul Jabbar Jokhio, Zafaryab Baig and Ashraf Hussain Rizvi. The lawyers boycotted the courts proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am and gathered in the bar room.

Vice President SHCBA Syed Ziauddin Nasir said the lawyers’ were united and were determined to continue their struggle to ensure independence of the judiciary and reinstatement of the CJP. He said only an independent judiciary could ensure the people’s protection and lawyers would continue their efforts to achieve this objective.

Member of Pakistan Bar Council Aaqil Lodhi and Member of Sindh Bar Council (PBC) Noor Naz Agha said that President Pervez Musharraf’s action against the CJP was in violation of the constitution. They said Musharraf should be punished under Article 6 of the constitution. They said the lawyers would only abide by what by PBC decided, adding that the CJP’s reinstatement was top priority of the lawyers’ fraternity.

Eleven members of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) observed a token hunger strike. They were Abdul Wahab Baloch, Mohammad Asif Qureshi, Sartaj Malkani, Abdul Wali Khan, Saeed Akhtar Abbasi, Hafiz-ur-Rehman Khattak, Khan Zaman Khattak, Tariq Bin Nazir, Ashfaq Memon, Azra Iqbal and Qaiser Ali Shah.

Lawyers in the city courts stayed away from courts proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am and gathered at the hunger strike camp. They raised slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and the CJP’s suspension.

Four members of Malir Bar Association (MBA) observed a token hunger strike in the courts premises. They were Faiz Mohammad, Naeem Asif, Abdur Razaq Channa and Manzar Abbas. The boycotted courts proceedings from 10.30am to 12.30pm.