PESHAWAR – Lawyers boycotted courts on the call of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa Bar Council and Peshawar High Court Bar Association to protest the abduction of Zain Khan Khalil advocate and demanded his safe recovery.
The KP Bar Council and Peshawar Bar Council came down hard on the government and the law-enforcement agencies for not taking solid steps for Zain’s recovery. All the lawyers wore black bands round their arms and locked their offices.
Addressing the lawyers, Latif Afridi, former Peshawar Bar Association president, said the security agencies were responsible for kidnapping in the province.
He said no lawyer would appear in any court; instead, they would extend their boycott to the whole province if the government failed in the recovery of Zain advocate. He said the kidnappers had demanded Rs 60 million for his recovery. “It is the responsibility of the government and law-enforcement agencies to recover Zain Khan and provide protection to the masses,” he said.
Peshawar Bar Association President Artiq Shah said Zain was not abducted from FATA, but was lifted from his house street. “It is lamentable that Professor Ajmal Khan, Tahir Faraz and Zain Khan had been abducted from their residences while the security agencies took no step for their recovery,” he said.
He said a meeting would be called on next Monday in which all the lawyers in the province would participate. He added a committee comprising Barrister Zahoor, Barrister Bacha, Arif Advocate and other senior lawyers would be formed to meet Corps Commander Asif Yaseen Malik for Zain’s recovery.
Reportedly, Khan Khalil advocate was kidnapped by a militant on September 29, 2010, from Ring Road Pashtakhera when he was going home. The militant had demanded Rs 60 million as ransom for his release.
