KARACHI, March 18: City lawyers will not turn up to any court on Saturday in protest against police baton charge of lawyers in district courts of Rawalpindi and demolishing of lawyer’s chambers in Gujar Khan. President of Karachi Bar Association Mehmoodul Hasan told Dawn that a complete boycott of the court proceedings would be observed by the legal fraternity in Sindh and Punjab. The lawyers are demanding dismissal of the additional district and sessions judge, Gujar Khaan, Sardar Babar Khan, and the district and sessions judge, Rawalpindi, Asad Raza, from judicial service. The KBA chief demanded that partisan judicial officers accused of torturing and victimizing lawyers be suspended without further delay.

He urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Nazim Hussai Siddiqui, and Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, Ch Iftikhar Hussain, to take notice and initiate disciplinary action against partisan officials.

Mehmoodul Hasan said the Karachi lawyers would hold a protest meeting on the premises of the city courts at 11am to condemn the atrocities being committed by the police.

The Sindh Bar Council called on Friday for a province-wide strike by lawyers on Saturday to protest against police excesses on advocates of Gujar Khan.

The bar council asked the district bar associations in Sindh to express solidarity with the lawyers of Punjab.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by SBC vice-chairperson Noor Naz Agha and members Aqil Lodhi, Mohammad Ali Abbasi, Iftikhar Javed Qazi and Ghulam Nabi strongly condemned the military action in Balochistan.