LAHORE, Oct 23: Responding to the call given by Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), around 30 lawyers came out on The Mall and staged a sit-in on Tuesday to condemn the government for what they called ‘perpetrating’ the Oct 18 twin blasts in Pakistan People’s Party rally in Karachi.

The LHCBA on Monday had called for staging a rally to GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court’s main entrance, besides appealing to bars across the country to boycott court proceedings and observe Tuesday as a black day.

Lawyers’ traditional enthusiasm, which was being witnessed for the past seven months and hallmark of their struggle for independence of judiciary and supremacy of the Constitution, is fizzling out. The lack of enthusiasm with which the Tuesday’s strike call was received could be gauged by the response of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) alone that remained aloof, and its members did not participate in the demonstration.

The thin presence of lawyers also hinted a rift within the LHCBA across party lines. The lawyers chanted slogans — uniform behind terrorism and overthrow the killer government — during their sit-in that did not last more than five minutes.

Vehicles travelling on The Mall dodged their way around the lawyers engaged in sloganeering to make the best of their show. Soon someone from the lawyers sounded retreat and everybody walked back to the bar premises rather meekly. —Reporter