HYDERABAD, Jan 24: Law-yers boycotted courts on Thursday in accordance with the Pakistan Bar Council’s decision to record weekly protests to press the government for reinstatement of deposed judges and release of lawyers and judges put under house-arrest.

The lawyers in Hyderabad did not appear in civil, sessions and high courts and wore black armbands as mark of protest while the president of Hyderabad’s High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Abdul Sattar Kazi hoisted a black flag on the HCBA room.

Mr Kazi demanded that the government release immediately the president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SBCA) Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Ali Ahmed Kurd.

He condemned extension in the period of their house-arrest and said that the government action had caused great resentment among lawyers throughout the country.

The Hyderabad District Bar Association could not record its protest at district level due to local holiday on account of one day cricket match in the city.

Lawyers in almost all the district headquarters of the province responded to the call of their supreme body and boycotted courts.

They staged hoisted black flags on the offices of district bar associations and wore black armbands as a symbol of their protest at the arbitrary government decisions.