The legal fraternity has decided not to provide any legal assistance to target killers, and any lawyer who breaks ranks with their own will face strong opposition from the rest, announced Sindh Bar Council (SBC) Vice-Chairman Iftikhar Javid Qazi on Thursday at a joint press conference held at the SBC building.
Flanked by Karachi Bar Association (KBA) President Muhammad Aqil, Secretary- General Hyder Imam Rizvi, Malir District Bar Association Secretary- General Khalid Mehmood and others, Qazi said that the legal fraternity resolved not to help target killers at a joint meeting of the bar associations held earlier. The meeting was convened to chalk out a joint strategy regarding protest campaign against killings of two lawyers, Advocate Altaf Hussain and Advocate Nazar Hussain, who were gunned down on May 21.
The lawyers have decided to observe a token strike every Thursday, from 11am to noon, against targeted killings in the city. A joint hunger strike would also be held outside the Sindh Chief Minister’s House by the bars. A final schedule would be announced after consultations, he said. A combined bar associations’ delegation will also meet with Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry to discuss the targeted killings of lawyers and other innocent citizens.
A five-member “Lawyers Coordination Committee” has been formed to chalk out a further strategy. The lawyers also demanded of the government to provide three million rupees in compensation money to heirs of those who perished to targeted violence. The KBA office-bearers also thanked all lawyers’ associations for having shown solidarity in their recently-concluded three-day protest campaign against the killings of their two colleagues.