Courts stay shut as legal fraternity observes strike

Karachi
Several lawyers’ association including the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Tuesday observed a strike to condemn the deaths of Daska Bar Association President Rana Khalid Abbas and fellow lawyer Irfan Chohan allegedly due to shots fired by SHO Shahzad Warraich during a clash with the police in Sialkot a day earlier.
KBA President Naeem Qureshi while addressing a general body meeting demanded to bring responsible police officers to justice whereas bereaved families should be paid compensation money immediately.
While speaking to The News, Qureshi while terming the incident shameful said lawyers who are bound to provide law and justice to citizens’ were being killed by policemen.
Lamenting the Government of Punjab for failing to protect lawyers, he also referred to the targeted killings of members of the legal fraternity in Sindh.
The clash which led to the tragic deaths broke out outside the office of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) where lawyers had gathered to protest over misbehaviour of the office’s clerk, Farooq, with Advocate Amir Basharat Bajwa.
PTI protest
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) staged a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club against police excesses on the lawyers in Daska.
The PTI gave a call for province-wide peaceful protests against the incident which resulted in the death of district bar association’s president who was also an active member of the party.
PTI Karachi President Ali Zaidi while addressing the protest, along with Asrar Abbasi, PTI Sindh MPAs Samar Ali Khan, Khurram Sher Zaman and other party leaders strongly condemned the killings.
Referring to police violence during the protest of blind peoples’ association, nurses and doctors, he said, “The Punjab police have become a private militia of the Sharifs…to be used against all opponents, both political as well as ordinary citizens.”
“The role of the police in any civilised society was to provide protection to people instead of being an instrument of state-terrorism,” he added.
Demanding that findings of the judicial inquiry be made public, unlike that of the Model Town incident, he said the culprits should be prosecuted in accordance with the law. He also called for de-politicisation of the police.
Zaidi expressed his condolences and solidarity with the grieved families of the lawyers.

MQM postpones protest
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) postponed its demonstration against water scarcity scheduled to be held on Tuesday to express solidarity with the lawyers’ community over the Daska incident.
MQM leader Amin-ul-Haq while speaking to The News informed that the protest would be held on Wednesday (today) in Landhi, Korangi no.5 and Liaquatabad. The demonstrations were a part of the week-long protest campaign launched by the MQM over what it described was an artificial water crisis created by the government; four protests had already been held.