KARACHI, Feb 23: A large number of the city’s lawyers along with the deposed judges of the Sindh High Court left for Hyderabad from the Sindh High Court building on Saturday morning to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected members of the Hyderabad Bar Association.

Around 16 deposed judges of the Sindh High Court, including Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed, Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Gulzar Ahmed, Athar Saeed, Salman Ansari, Musheer Alam, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Faisal Arab, Arshad Suraj Memon, and Ghulam Rabbani, a deposed judge of the Supreme Court, along with the lawyers and office-bearers of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, Karachi bar and Malir bar associations left for Hyderabad in what was described a ‘judicial bus’.

The lawyers of the City Courts reached the high court in the form of a procession to join hands with their brethren. The caravan of the city’s legal fraternity, which included around 50 vehicles and a ‘judicial bus’ for the deposed judges, left for their destination at around 10am.

They were accorded a warm welcome upon reaching the District Courts Malir, where hundreds of lawyers had gathered to join the caravan in its journey to Hyderabad.

The deposed chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Sabihuddin, also addressed the lawyers’ gathering and appreciated their contributions towards the ongoing struggle for the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.

Meanwhile, the legal proceedings remained suspended at the City Courts on Saturday as most of the lawyers stayed away from the courts’ proceedings, in response to a strike call given by the Karachi Bar Association to protest against the police action against a lawyers’ rally on Thursday.

Over 300 under-trial prisoners were brought to the City Courts from different prisons of the city, but most of them were taken back to their respective prisons without being produced in court due to the lawyers’ strike. However, the judges remained in their chambers.