LAHORE, Dec 26: Lawyers observed a black day in the city on Wednesday in protest against the manhandling of Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan.

The SCBA chief was prevented from proceeding to Islamabad on the eve of Eidul Azha, roughed up and detained after being driven in an open police van for seven hours in the freezing night.

Students from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and civil society representatives had also joined the lawyers in their protest.

At Aiwan-i-Adl, lawyers wearing black armbands held a protest meeting and hoisted black flags atop the bar building. After the meeting some of them marched to Post Master General Chowk.

The march came to an end after senior lawyers persuaded their young colleagues to return to the bar building.

“We had brought them back (to Aiwan-i-Adl) because the general house did not issue a call for the protest march following thin presence of lawyers due to winter vacation. We will take out a rally against Aitzaz’s manhandling on next Thursday (Jan 3),” said Lahore Bar Association (LBA) president Syed Muhammad Shah.

The LBA had set up a hunger strike camp to show solidarity with SCBA president Aitzaz Ahsan.

The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and Save Judiciary Committee had also arranged separate hunger strike camps on the premises of the bar. Lawyers gathered at the camps and chanted slogans against Musharraf and his aides and in favour of Aitzaz Ahsan.

Addressing the lawyers, Bushra Aitzaz said her husband had been suffering from pneumonia for three days. However he was recovering fast, she said.

She expressed the hope that all the deposed judges and lawyers would be freed soon and the year 2008 would be celebrated as the year of freedom for all institutions, including the judiciary.

At LHCBA, most of the lawyers stayed away from courts and discussed the latest political situation among themselves in barrooms. Though the lawyers were not in big number due to the fact that the LHC is closed for winter holidays, yet the lawyers recorded their protest.

In a joint statement, LHCBA president Ahsan Bhoon and secretary Sarfraz Cheema condemned the government for re-arresting Aitzaz Ahsan.

They rejected the proposed establishment of a federal high court in Islamabad and declared it a conspiracy against the judiciary hatched by Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum and Sharifuddin Peerzada.

They urged the people to take to streets to protest against the government’s excesses and promote the lawyers’ cause.