Lawyers boycott legal work against ‘abduction’ of colleague

Judicial work at the City Courts remained suspended on Wednesday as members of the legal fraternity observed a strike on a call given by the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) against "abduction" of their colleague Johar Abid.

Hundreds of litigants suffered as most cases were simply adjourned without hearing. Under-trial prisoners were also not brought to the courts due to the strike. In a statement, the KBA "strongly" condemned what it called the reprehensible act of the abduction of Johar Abid from Gulshan-e-Iqbal on the night of January 9 by individuals posing themselves as police officials.

This was a second strike at the city's largest judicial complex in less than three days' time. On Monday, the lawyers boycotted judicial work at the City Courts to protest against the registration of what they termed a fabricated FIR against some lawyers for allegedly maltreating a traffic cop.