Lawyers across the country on Thursday remained on strike and boycotted court proceedings against targeted killing of three lawyers in Karachi on Wednesday.
The call for boycott of courts was given by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). A strike call in Sindh was also given by the Shia Ulema Council. Lawyers of high courts and subordinate courts stayed away from proceedings and protest demonstrations were held in various cities, including provincial capitals and other major cities of the four provinces. Litigants had to suffer due to lawyers’ protest and boycott of court proceedings. On Wednesday, three lawyers were killed when unidentified armed motorcyclists ambushed their car near the city courts. Soon after the incident, violent protests spread across Karachi and continued until late night. Angry people burnt tyres on roads, suspending traffic on Shahrah-e-Faisal and the National Highway for hours.
A strike was also observed in high courts and civil courts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where lawyers demanded the government give compensation to the victim families. A partial strike was observed in courts in Lahore, while proceedings in Jhelum, Chakwal, Attock, Abbottabad, Rawalpindi and Islamabad were completely boycotted. Kasur District bar Association lawyers also boycotted court proceedings over security concerns in district courts.