The lawyer fraternity observed a black day on Wednesday and boycotted lower court proceedings to protest against the killing of their colleague Advocate Kamal Khan, who was gunned down by unidentified bandits during a robbery bid in Model Colony on Tuesday.Condemning the killing of another lawyer in the city, the lawyers termed such incidents as the failure of the government and law enforcers Boycotting proceedings at City Court and Malir District Court, the protesting lawyers expressed serious reservations over the killing of their colleague. Black flags were hoisted on the bars’ offices while the protesting lawyers wore black armbands.
Shortly after the news of Kamal’s killing on Tuesday evening, the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) had given a strike call, which was also supported by the Malir District Bar Association (MDBA). The lawyers’ representative bodies strongly condemned the incident and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprit. They termed the incident a continuation of the killings of lawyers, threatening the lawyer fraternity not to continue their struggle for the rule of law. The lawyer leaders were of the view that a number of such incidents have occurred previously wherein many lawyers lost their lives, including last week’s incident in which two lawyer brothers – Altaf Hussain and Nazir Hussain – were killed only a week ago; but so far none of the culprits involved in their killings has been arrested.
They said that the killing of Kamal has fuelled their protest agitation, which was launched after the killing of the two lawyer brothers. Talking with Pakistan Today, KBA General Secretary Haider Imam Rizvi said the lawyer fraternity cannot be forced to abandon their struggle for the rule of law and the lawyers are not ready to surrender. The bar associations will very soon chalk out their next strategy to accelerate their protest campaign against the killing of lawyers and innocent citizens. A province-wide mass protest campaign would be launched and the lawyers would boycott courts proceedings, stage demonstrations across the metropolis and sit in, if the police fail to arrest the culprits. MDBA General Secretary Khalid Mehmood said the government and the law enforcers have failed in providing security to the lawyers’ fraternity.