KARACHI, May 23: Lawyers continued their one-hour boycott of court proceedings on Wednesday and observed a token hunger strike in their respective bars in protest against the presidential reference filed against Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The High Court of Sindh, City Courts and Malir Courts wore a deserted look as all the lawyers stayed away from court proceedings from 10.30am to 11.30am while many lawyers did not attend the proceedings till 1.30pm.

The Karachi Bar Association held a general body meeting at Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall, which was addressed by President Iftikhar Javaid Qazi, General Secretary Naeem Qureshi, and Joint Secretary Aamir Niaz Khan. They announced that lawyers would hold a protest rally from the City Courts to Karachi Press Club on Thursday. They invited all political parties to join the procession and raise their voice for independence of judiciary.

They said judiciary remained as ‘B team’ of military dictators during the past six decades and did not play its due role to maintain rule of law and dignity of constitution. They said it was Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry who took a stand against the will of a dictator and opted to face the presidential reference.

They said the step that took by the chief justice infused a new spirit in the lawyers who launched the campaign for independence of judiciary which got support of the whole nation. It was said that during the 70-day ongoing campaign lawyers recognized their friends and foes. They asked the opposition parties to come on a single platform irrespective of their personal interest and work against the dictators.

The lawyers said the Sindh government in violation of Article 3, 4, and 19 of the Constitution had blocked the roads and besieged the courts which, they said, was a shameful act on part of the rulers. They said the campaign that ran by lawyers would always be remembered in the judicial history of the country.

Meanwhile, seven KBA members observed a token hunger strike in the City Courts. They were Zubair Ishaq, Maroof Hussain Hashmi, Mohammad Qasim Niazi, Kamran Niazi, Nasir Mehmood, Azhar Hussain and Fazal Deen Rajput. In Malir Courts, two lawyers Haji Khan Mashhori and Shehzad Ali Khan observed hunger strike.

It was announced that lawyers would take out a rally on Thursday at 10.30am. The political parties have been invited to attend the rally and raise their voice for independence of judiciary.

On the invitation of lawyers, the Labour Party Pakistan, Karachi chapter, has announced that its workers would participate in the lawyers’ rally to be taken out from the City Courts to Karachi Press Club.

The party in a meeting decided that workers would take part in the rallies for expressing their support to judiciary. It was also decided that solidarity conferences with judiciary would be held in different parts of the country.

Criticising the government policies, LPP leaders Comrade Abdul Salam and Sajjad Zaheer asked the rulers to tender resignation and hold free, fair and impartial elections under an impartial caretaker setup. The party workers were asked to foil the conspiracies being hatched for disturbing peace and tranquillity in the city.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Bar Council Human Rights Committee Chairman Aaqil Lodhi Advocate condemned the registration of FIR against lawyers in Hyderabad and termed it a futile exercise of the rulers to weaken their movement for the independence of judiciary.

He said lawyers were united and they would continue to work for the rule of law. He appreciated the lawyers of Hyderabad and said that Sindh Bar Council members would visit Nawabshah, Sukkur, Larkana, Khairpur and Mirpurkhas to meet lawyers. He appealed to the media persons and civil society activists to extend support to the lawyers’ campaign.