LAHORE, March 12: All opposition political and religious parties have condemned police action against lawyers in Lahore, saying that the regime had “set an example of fascism and intolerance.”

Punjab PPP secretary-general Ghulam Abbas said the CJP had every right to defend him in an open court and the lawyers were supporting his demand when subjected to the ‘barbaric treatment’.

PTI: Speaking at a party meeting on Monday, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf’s Punjab president Ahsan Rashid said that the baton charge was the worst example of autocratic rule.

He said that the PTI stood behind the lawyers in their just struggle which was aimed at saving the state and its institutions.

MMA senior vice-president Senator Prof Sajid Mir said the lawyers had been subjected to brutal treatment when they were holding a peaceful rally in an effort to restore the pride of the judiciary. He said that the regime had created a crisis which had made the London conference more important in the situation.

JUP amir Sahibzada Shah Mohammad Ans Noorani, Pir Ejaz Hashmi and Qari Zawwar Bahadur also condemned the torture of lawyers by police and said in a press statement that the regime had once again shown that it knew the language of repression only.