LAHORE, Sept 1: Lawyers observed a partial strike in Lahore on Friday whereas their boycott of court across the province was said to have been a ‘great success’.

The strike call was given

by the Punjab Bar Council against the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and to express solidarity with the people of Balochistan.

PBC vice-chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Azhar told Dawn on Friday that the response to the call ‘has been great’, particularly in districts where an overwhelming majority of lawyers boycotted courts.

He said the strike call was, in fact, the demand of lawyers.

He said he had seen anger among the lawyers during his tour of 33 districts of the province and when he asked them about observing a strike, they expressed their willingness to do so.

He said the strike was an expression of solidarity with the Balochistan Bar Council which also observed a complete strike on Friday.

Mr Azhar said Sardar Bugti’s killing in a military operation in Kohlu was an extra judicial killing which had shaken the foundations of an already fragile federation.

He said the ‘complete’ strike by lawyers showed that the people and lawyers of the Punjab stood by their Baloch brethren in their struggle against a dictatorial regime which had already caused a major dent in the country’s federal structure by using brute force in dealing with a purely political issue.