KARACHI, May 16: Lawyers in the City Courts and Malir Courts on Wednesday stayed away from the court proceedings for one hour and observed a token hunger strike against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The lawyers referred to a decision of the Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association and said there would be a complete boycott of the court proceedings on every Thursday and the token hunger strike and one-hour boycott of courts would also continue.

At the hunger strike camp, a general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association was held, which was addressed by KBA President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, General Secretary Naeem Qureshi, Sati M. Ishaq, Shahadat Awan, Sarwar Mohammad Khan, Mohammad Bakhsh Lashari, Tariq Khan Niazi, Sardar Tariq Khan, Waqar Shah and Mubbashir.

They said a free legal aid committee was formed to provide free of cost legal support to all those facing any kind of case for supporting lawyers’ campaign or in connection with May 12. They said 34 workers of various political parties and other organisations were bailed out on Wednesday. Fourteen cases were registered against activists of different parties in Orangi Town, eight in SITE Town, four in Preedy police station, and eight in Jackson police station on May 12.

They said that more than 80,000 lawyers across the country were fully united to continue the campaign for independence of judiciary, adding that government’s tactics to weaken the unity proved futile. They said innocent people were being implicated in cases to suppress the ongoing struggle but lawyers were providing legal aid to all those facing the ‘fake’ cases.

They said four legal aid committees comprising senior lawyers were active in the East, West, South and Central districts and asked the people to have a close contact with the office-bearers of the Karachi Bar Association for getting free legal aid.

It was stated that lawyers would not accept any financial compensation for the May 12 damages. They said the lawyers would do whatever they could by contributing at their own. He said the lawyers could not forget the tragic scenes when one lawyer was martyred and 23 others were injured by workers of a group.

Later, a token hunger strike was observed in the City Courts by six KBA members. Lawyers in Malir Courts also boycotted the court proceedings for one hour. Four MBA members observed a token hunger strike.