PESHAWAR, Nov 26: Lawyers on Monday criticised amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act saying that their movement could not be fizzled out through such tactics.

They called upon opposition parties to forge unity among their ranks and make a consensus decision either to boycott forthcoming polls or to contest it from a joint platform.

The lawyers condemned the treatment meted out to former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Munir A. Malik and other leaders.

They said that if anything happened to Mr Malik or other lawyers Gen Pervez Musharraf would be responsible for that.

Advocate Abdul Samad Marwat announced that he would donate a kidney to Munir A. Malik in case that was required for his treatment.

The lawyers prayed for his early recovery and said that the government was responsible for his deteriorating health.

Amid complete boycott of the Peshawar High Court, the lawyers jointly arranged a public meeting.

The entire premises of the court were decorated with black banners, posters and flags.

The meeting said amendments to the Bar Councils Act were aimed at creating division among the lawyers.

The speakers said that the lawyers were united and their movement would only culminate with the restoration of independent judges and the Constitution.

“The bar councils still have the powers of suspending licences of lawyers and we will not allow anyone to appear before the PCO judges,” said Abdul Lateef Afridi.

The speakers said the opposition parties should boycott the elections and in case they had not been boycotting then they should evolve a joint strategy for the polls.