QUETTA, May 10: Lawyers observed a black day and boycotted court proceedings in the city and other district headquarters on Thursday in protest against the visit of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to Balochistan and the attack at the house of President Supreme Court bar association Munir A. Malik in Karachi.

The lawyers, led by Vice-Chairman Pakistan Bar Council Ali Ahmed Kurd, took out a procession and staged a demonstration in front of the press club denouncing actions taken by the government to sabotage Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s visit to Karachi.

The protesters, holding black flags, chanted slogans against President Musharraf and govt counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Kurd said the judiciary crisis could be resolved if President Musharraf apologised to the chief justice and withdrew the reference against him.

He said that lawyers from the Balochistan Bar Association, Balochistan High Court Bar Association and Balochistan Bar Council observed a black day and abstained from courts.

He claimed that lawyers in Quetta, Pishin, Chaman, Loralai, Zhob, Ziarat, Sibi, Dera Muhammad Jamali, Kalat, Khuzdar, Hub, Gwadar, Panjgur and Turbat also did not attend court proceedings to protest against President Musharraf’s visit.

He said the Balochis would never forget Gen. Musharraf’s oppression and inhuman acts of killing hundreds of innocent people, including the aged Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation.

Mr. Kurd alleged that about one thousand Baloch political workers were still in the custody of Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Condemning the attack on Mr Malik’s residence, he said that such acts would neither tame the lawyers nor would it prompt the CJ to change his scheduled visit to Karachi on May 12.