LAHORE, Jan 2: Members of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) separately offered funeral prayers for Benazir Bhutto and marched on The Mall in protest against her assassination.

While the LHCBA offered prayers at GPO Chowk, the LBA held a similar gathering outside Aiwan-i-Adl at PMG Chowk to pray for the departed soul.

Under the LBA, lawyers came out of the Aiwan-i-Adl and marched up to the PMG Chowk after holding a condolence reference. They chanted slogans ‘Zinda hay BB zinda hay’, ‘Qatil league ko griftar karo’ and ‘go Musharraf go’. After offering the prayers, the lawyers returned to Aiwan-i-Adl.

Meanwhile, LHCBA lawyers, after holding a condolence reference, marched towards the GPO Chowk and offered funeral prayers for the late Benazir Bhutto there. After the funeral prayers, the lawyers chanted slogans against the government and in favour of the slain PPP chairperson.

Earlier, addressing the LHCBA members, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jahangir said Benazir was not only a leader but also a well-wisher of her party workers. She termed her a national asset. She said Benazir was even a greater leader than her father and she never tried to victimise her opponents even when she was in power.

Asma said Benazir always tried to protect children, women and the destitute. She said people of Pakistan gave her love, but the establishment always created troubles for her.

LHCBA President Ahsan Bhoon said Benazir had identified her assassins in a letter written to Pervez Musharraf and the people mentioned should be probed to bring the culprits to book. He also demanded President Musharraf should step down immediately. However, he urged lawyers to take revenge through their votes against the government-backed parties in the upcoming election.

Former PPP law minister SM Masood said all those leaders who wanted to stabilise the country had been removed from the scene.

Justice Sharif Husain Bokhari (retired) said after Benazir’s death, the Kashmir issue would not be resolved for long which, according to him, was about to be resolved after she came to power.

Justice Malik Saeed Hasan (retired) appreciated the former PPP chairperson and termed her a symbol of love and peace. He said she had returned to Pakistan to establish rule of law in the country.

Advocate Mian Muhammad Jahangir said every dictator, considering Bhutto family as an opponent, victimised them.

He said the book ‘If I am Assassinated’, written by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in jail was compiled by Benazir Bhutto. He said during Gen Zia era punishment to keep that book was 10 years imprisonment.

LHCBA Vice-President Firdous Butt, Secretary Sarfraz Cheema, advocates Iqbal Mehmood Awan, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari, Tanvir Hashmi, Mian Hanif Tahir and Muhammad Sharif Chohan also addressed the lawyers.

At the LBA meeting, the lawyers demanded that FIR of Benazir’s assassination should be registered on the complaint of her successors and investigation be held by an international inquiry commission. The bar repeated the demand by carrying a unanimous resolution in its general house meeting which held under chairmanship of its president Ahsan Bhoon.

The bar also declared 2007 as “Year of Struggle of Benazir for democracy”.

Speakers paid rich tribute to Benazir and strongly condemned the government for failing to provide her security which she had been demanding.