PESHAWAR: The lawyers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday observed a strike to protest the recent killing of a senior advocate in a targeted attack.
The lawyers in Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Kohat and Hangu observed complete strike on the call of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and Peshawar High Court Bar Association.
The members of the community stayed away from courts. However, lawyers of other districts observed Monday as mourning day. Like other districts, lawyers in Peshawar boycotted the Peshawar High Court and sub-ordinate courts.
Bilal Khan Khalil, Press Secretary to the PHCBA, said senior lawyer Muhammad Jan Gigyani was killed and his nephew Rahim Shah suffered injuries in an attack on their vehicle by armed men near Shabqadar on Saturday.
According to police, Muhammad Jan Gigyani, who was a leader of the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), was travelling in his car along with Rahim Shah and two other lawyers to Shabqadar tehsil courts when the attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on them.
Gigyani suffered fatal injuries and died in a hospital, while Rahim Shah was wounded in the attack. The other two lawyers remained unhurt. Reportedly, Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Peshawar High Court Bar Association President Muzammil Khan said the lawyers and courts were under attack in the province. He urged the government to protect the lawyers. The judges and lawyers in the province have come under attack as the militants attacked courts in Tangi Tehsil in Charsadda district in which one lawyer was killed. Earlier, four judges including three women of Peshawar district courts were injured when a suicide bomber hit their van near the Peshawar Development Authority building in Hayatabad.
