PESHAWAR, Nov 7: Amid complete boycott of courts, lawyers observed a hunger strike here on Wednesday against the imposition of emergency.At a meeting held here, Peshawar High Court Bar and District Bar associations vowed to continue their boycott of courts till the reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as the Chief Justice along with other judges who refused to take an oath under the Provisional Constitution Order, and the lifting of emergency.

No lawyer would take part in court proceedings till their demands were accepted, the lawyers’ bodies announced

Lawyers, who boycotted courts for the third consecutive day, also announced to observe a ‘black day’.

Speaking at the meeting, senior lawyer and human rights activist Musarrat Hilali condemned the arrest of lawyers and rights activists on a massive scale.

The government would run short of space in jails for lawyers but the number of protesters would increase day by day, the meeting said.

It said the driving force behind the lawyers’ movement for restoration of independence of the judiciary was the public support. The morale of the lawyers was high and they could not be suppressed or subdued by arrests, the meeting, attended by a large number of lawyers, said.

The associations also announced to jointly launch a hunger strike for an indefinite period in protest against the removal of judges and the imposition of emergency.

The lawyers have set up the hunger strike camp on the premises of the Peshawar High Court. Ten lawyers went on hunger strike on the first day.

The lawyers’ bodies criticised the government for making “a joke of the country in the eyes of the world community”. They also criticised the role of some political leaders for not playing a role the people expected from them.

They raised slogans against judges who took oath under the new PCO.