KARACHI: Lawyers on Monday boycotted legal proceedings in protest against the killing of two senior lawyers and bombings in the city.

The Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) condemned the killing of two senior lawyers, including Basharatullah, who was kidnapped and later found dead.

Participants in a meeting organised by the SHCBA expressed concern over the kidnapping of former advocate general of Balochistan Salahuddin Mengal who was kidnapped about a month ago and since then his whereabouts were unknown.

They also condemned the bombings in Karachi and other parts of the country and asked the government to provide security to political parties.

They urged the government to take steps for the protection of lawyers.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Sindh Bar Council and the Karachi Bar Association threatened to boycott legal proceedings, if their demands pertaining to appointment of judges and increase in number of courts were not met.

They urged the government to prosecute former president retired General Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the constitution for his unconstitutional steps.

Addressing a press conference, SBC vice chairman Mohammad Aqil said that a meeting of representatives of lawyer associations from all over Sindh was called in which problems faced by the lawyers fraternity pertaining to appointment and behaviour of judges, and shortage of courts, infrastructure were discussed.

He said the high court should take concrete steps to meet the requirement of shortage of courtrooms. He said courts throughout the province were devoid of infrastructure required for proper functioning of the courts.

He urged the chief justice of the SHC to take notice of the incident of manhandling of the Khairpur district bar association president allegedly by supporters of PPP.

He said after proper consultation with representatives of a lawyers association, the judges should be appointed in the high court, adding that senior, honest and competent advocates, including female advocates, should be considered for post of judges.

He also called for the construction of judicial complexes all over Sindh.

He asked the chief justice of the SHC to direct judges to improve their attitude towards advocates, and the association be taken into confidence before taking decision against any lawyer.

Karachi Bar Association President Naeem Qureshi, Mehmoodul Hasan, member Sindh Bar Council, and others were also present.—PPI