KARACHI, March 24: The legal fraternity on Saturday observed a boycott of subordinate judiciary courts to protest the murder of two lawyers.

The lawyers’ representatives condemned the double murder and criticised the government for its failure to stop the targeted killing of lawyers.

The Karachi and Malir bar associations gave a strike call shortly after the killing of former Malir Bar Association president Salahuddin Haider Jaffery and his son, Advocate Ali Raza Jaffery, in Malir on Saturday morning.

The city courts and Malir district courts wore a deserted look as lawyers stayed away and legal proceedings were suspended. Hundreds of cases fixed for the day were postponed and undertrial prisoners sent back to prisons soon after the strike was called.

Condemning the killing, President of the Karachi Bar Association Mahmood-ul-Hasan said the government had failed to provide security to lawyers and asked the home minister to step down.

Seven members of the legal community have so far been killed this year while 27 others were assassinated last year in Sindh, he added.

Ashraf Samo, President of the Malir Bar Association, also condemned the murder and said that the future course of action would be chalked out at a general body meeting on Monday.

Members of the Malir Bar Association staged a sit-in on the National Highway, suspending vehicular traffic for a couple of hours. They dispersed peacefully when some senior officials from the police and Rangers assured them that they would apprehend the culprits soon and bring them to justice.

Legal proceedings were also badly affected at the city’s special courts including anti-terrorism courts, control of narcotic substances courts, accountability courts, anti-corruption courts and banking courts because of the lawyers’ strike.

The Sindh Bar Council has also condemned the assassination of lawyers and declared that a complete boycott of court proceedings would be observed across the province on Monday.

The vice-chairman of the SBC, Ghulam Mohammad Abbasi, said that the lawyers would stay away from the courts and hold condolence meetings at the offices of bar associations to protest the murder of their colleagues.