KARACHI, July 13: The government should disclose the names of those killed in Lal Masjid operation and hand over the bodies to their heirs for burial. These demands were made at a general body meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association held on Friday. Among other lawyers, the meeting was addressed by Sindh Bar Council members Mustafa Lakhani and Salahuddin Khan Gandapur.

They said the bodies of the students were not handed over to the heirs for reasons best known to the government. The relatives of many victims failed to trace the bodies even three days after the operation completed and no government official was prepared to cooperate with them, they said.

The lawyers criticised the government for hiding the bodies from the media saying that in this grim situation when Lal Masjid operation was in the international media focus it was incomprehensible why the bodies were buried in the dark. They alleged that the people, looking for the bodies, had been threatened of dire consequences, which was immoral, illegal and against basic human rights.

“At least the heirs of those buried secretly should be guided to the graves,” they said, adding that the relatives of victims should not spend their time and money on the search.

Referring to the recorded speech of President Musharraf, the lawyers said that people found his remarks unsensitive when he appreciated the armed force’s role in the operation.

They blamed the government for hatching conspiracies to sabotage the lawyers’ movement saying that the credit went to lawyers who maintained complete unity and foiled all attempts aimed at creating rifts in their ranks.

Optimistic about the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the lawyers said they would continue their efforts for restoration of democracy, the rule of law and provision of human rights in the country.

Meanwhile, the Karachi Bar Association members, led by Iqbal Munshi, offered funeral prayers of the victims on Lewis Road.

KBA members Naheed Afazaal and Saeed Qureshi in their speeches criticised the government action terming it totally inhuman. They offered fateha for the departed souls.

In line with the decision of PBC to register protest against the suspension of the chief justice, groups of lawyers at the SHC, the City Courts and the Malir Courts observed token hunger strikes.