BAHAWALPUR, Nov 15: Refusing to budge an inch from their stance, lawyers in parts of Punjab on Thursday continued protest against the emergency rule and allied actions.

Members of the Bahawalpur District Bar Association, who continued their protest, decided to set up a ‘flower corner’ outside the bar room to pay a tribute to those apex courts judges who did not take oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

The lawyers left courts after half past ten and held a general-body meeting during which bar president Yahyah Khan, on the suggestion of members Ijaz Chaudhry, Rana Muhammad Yaqoob, Bilal Qazi and others, announced setting up of a flower corner where lawyers would put bouquets and flowers in the honour of the judges.

He also announced that the bar members would proceed to the borstal here on Friday to express solidarity with the incarcerated colleagues from Lahore and other places.

Later, the lawyers brought out a protest rally and expressed resentment against the government.

Meanwhile, four lawyers Minhas, Najib Ashraf, Jahangir and Mian Nadeem, all from Lahore, were released from the borstal.

MULTAN: The community did not lag behind in Multan and observed complete strike.

The high court and district bar associations held meetings to protest emergency and suspension of constitution. The lawyers demonstrated outside the district courts and shouted slogans against President Gen Pervez Musharraf and in the favour of the deposed judges.

The president, they said, had announced the election date under the pressure of foreign countries but still free and fair elections could not be held in his presence.

SAHIWAL: Additional District and Sessions Judge Javed Iqbal Warraich granted pre-arrest bail to five of the nine advocates.

The Civil Lines police have been directed to produce the record of the cases on Nov 29.

Those who were granted pre-arrest bail were: former district bar president Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar Warraich, former VP Rana Shakeel Javed, advocates Chaudhry Hasnaat Dayal, Nasir Mahmood Sindhu and Malik Zulfiqar Ahmad (also the PPP city president).

The district bar association, meanwhile, continued boycott of courts for the 13th day, hoisting black flag atop the bar room.

The other places where the lawyers followed the suit included Sheikhupura, Toba Tek Singh and Khanewal.