The legal fraternity of the city staged a protest rally and a token sit-in in front of the Chief Minister’s House on Monday to protest targeted killings of their colleagues and demanded that the murderers be arrested and the heirs of the victims compensated immediately.
As the lawyers observed a black day against the murder of their colleagues, all courts including special courts remained shut.
The hearing of hundreds of cases, including the Sarfaraz Shah murder case, was postponed.
The strike call was given by the Sindh High Court Bar Association, (SHCBA), the Sindh Bar Council (SBC), the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and the Malir District Bar Association (MDBA). As the lawyers were remonstrating in front of the Chief Minister’s House, government officials came out and invited the lawyers’ representatives to negotiate with the chief minister, but they refused and ask the provincial chief executive to come outside himself.
Later, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah along with Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro and Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan came out to talk to them.
Shah assured the lawyers that an inquiry committee would be formed soon, headed by the AIG Police, to probe the killings. However, the lawyers were not satisfied and demanded formation of a judicial inquiry committee that would be headed by a high court judge. The chief minister requested them to call off the protest assuring them that an inquiry committee would be announced on Tuesday (today).
KBA President Muhammad Aqil told the media that a delegation including two representatives each from the lawyers’ bodies will meet the chief minister on Tuesday.
The delegation includes SHCBA President Anwar Mansoor Khan, Secretary Abid Zubairi, KBA President Muhammad Aqil, Secretary Hyder Imam Rizvi, MDBA President Ashraf Sammo and Secretary Khalid Mehmood.
Earlier, the lawyers’ leaders while addressing the participants of the rally said that the government has failed to protect people. “We, as a community, are struggling to protect the lives of all citizens and our resolve would be equal to that shown during the 2007 movement for the restoration of the superior judiciary,” they added.
