Though judges remained in their chambers, cases could not be heard since the lawyers stayed away from the courts, while 303 under-trial prisoners who were brought to the City Courts from different prisons of the city were taken back without being produced in courts.
Though the stationary shops and stamp paper vendors did open their shops, they later closed up as there was no business due to the strike. However, the canteens of the City Courts remained open.Meanwhile, the Pakistan Bar Council came under fire at the general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA), held at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts, when SHCBA member Sathi M. Ishaq slammed the PBC for taking the decision to boycott the Jan 8 general elections. He said the PBC had not invited representatives of the bar associations in this regard and only a few persons had decided to boycott the upcoming general elections, which, he said, was unfair.
Mr Ishaq, who was contesting the election from the PPP ticket, said that the Pakistan People’s Party has decided to contest the election because parliament could play a key role for the independence of the judiciary.
However, KBA General-Secretary Naeem Qureshi urged the lawyers to boycott the elections as he said they would be pre-rigged and added that those parties that were participating in the polls had their own political interests.
He vowed to continue the struggle, which, he said, was for the independence of the judiciary, rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution.
Former president of the KBA Mohammad Ali Abbasi lauded the lawyers’ movement and vowed to follow the PBC’s agenda till the restoration of the independent judiciary. He also urged the lawyers who had submitted their nomination papers to boycott the election just as Aitzaz Ahsan had. “We need to keep unity in our ranks in order to achieve our goals,” he added.
Amir Niaz, Riaz Afandi, Muzaffar Iqbal Sufi, Syed Fateh Ali Shah, K.K. Javaid Khan, Naila Tabbassum and Shahzad Arshad also addressed the meeting.
The speakers vowed to continue their struggle against the ousting of the chief justice and other judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, the arrest and detention of the top leadership of the PBC and other lawyers across the country and the amendments made by President Musharraf in the Constitution.
The KBA also staged at demonstration in front of its office and shouted slogans in favour of independence of the judiciary. However, lawyers’ participation in the rally remained thin.
Meanwhile, President of the Malir Bar Association Zahoor Hussain Mehar told Dawn that a complete strike was also observed at the Malir District Courts on Thursday in line with the PBC’s call.