ISLAMABAD: Lawyers will today (Tuesday) observe a countrywide protest with one-week mourning in the wake of the assassination of Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) President Bilal Anwar Kasi and Quetta Civil Hospital bombing in which 70 people were killed and dozens injured.
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the apex body of the legal fraternity, strongly condemned the assassination of Bilal Anwar Kasi and the Civil Hospital bombing.Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem, Vice-Chairman, and Abdul Fayaz, Chairman Executive Committee of Pakistan Bar Council, strongly condemned the assassination of Bilal Anwar Kasi and the hospital bombing.
A number of lawyers, including former president Balochistan Bar Association Baz Muhammad Kakar, were killed in the bombing.They made an appeal to the lawyers to observe a countrywide strike on Tuesday (today) and one-week mourning.
Besides observing the strike and mourning, the lawyers will hold protest meetings in their bar rooms and wear black bands on their arms to condemn the incident.Deploring what they called the utter failure of the federal and provincial governments in maintaining law and order in the province and protecting the common people, they asked the government to arrest the culprits and bring them to book at the earliest.
The PBC expressed solidarity with the bereaved families and emphasized the need for evolving a foolproof practical strategy for improving the law and order situation.Bilal Anwar Kasi was gunned down on Monday in an apparent targeted killing incident in Quetta.
According to police, the car of the lawyer came under attack on the Manno Jan Road in the city. The assailants were riding a motorbike and could not be identified immediately.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) announced a week-long mourning. The Lahore High Court (LHC) lawyers announced a protest today (Tuesday) to condemn the attack.
“This is not just an attack on lawyers; this is an attack on all citizens,” Barrister Ali Zafar, President Supreme Court Bar Association, told a press conference in Lahore.He strongly condemned the tragic incident and asked the government to arrest the culprits involved in the attack.
He said the legal fraternity always stood by the democratic forces fighting for the fundamental rights of citizens and hence they were attacked. “These attacks will not weaken us but makes us even stronger,” Ali Zafar said.
The SCBA also announced to offer funeral prayers in absentia of the martyrs on the premises of the Supreme Court.Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali also strongly condemned the assassination of Bilal Anwar Kasi and the hospital bombing.
He offered his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for speedy recovery of those injured in the incident.He was positive that the federal and provincial governments would leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to justice.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Bar Council in an updated press release announced a three-day complete strike in all courts of Pakistan, including the Supreme Court.
The PBC requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan not to hold the Supreme Court for three days and in this respect all the lawyers, especially the lawyers of the Supreme Court, were requested to voluntarily boycott all court proceedings for three days as the subject incident was a direct attack on lawyers.
It called upon the federal and Balochistan governments to announce compensation for the martyred and injured lawyers in the first stage by giving Rs2 million for each martyred lawyer and Rs1 million for the injured lawyers.
In the second stage, the PBC demanded, Rs5 million be paid per martyred lawyer and Rs2.5 million per injured lawyer.
