PESHAWAR: Condemning the terrorist attack on the house of senior lawyer Abdul Latif Afridi, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council has announced complete boycott of courts across the province from today. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council made the strike call on the demand of Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA). It said the lawyers would stay away from the courts in protest against the attack on the house of the former PHCBA president Abdul Latif Afridi. He is also former head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of Malgari Wakeelan, the lawyers’ body affiliated to the Awami National Party.The lawyers in the provincial metropolis observed strike from 11am on Tuesday after the incident was brought into the notice of the PHC Bar Association. The PHCBA in its general body meeting condemned placing of the five kilogram bomb near the house of Abdul Latif Afridi in Hayatabad. The senior lawyer was entering his house when the explosives partially went off and caused an explosion. However, he escaped unhurt. The lawyers’ body through a resolution asked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government to constitute a Joint Investigation Team to probe the failed attempt on the life of the senior lawyer and make public the inquiry report within a week. The PHCBA urged the government to suspend the station house officer (SHO) of Hayatabad Police Station along with all his staff and investigate him for failure to prevent the incident. It is pertinent to mention that Latif Afridi has been representing Dr Shakil Afridi, accused of working for the CIA by running a fake vaccination campaign to track down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, in his appeal against his conviction by the Fata Tribunal. Latif Afridi headed the panel of lawyers pleading his case. Two judges of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), including Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani and Justice Lal Jan Khattak, also attended the emergency general body meeting of PHCBA.PHCBA president Muhammad Essa Khan, general secretary Muhammad Ayaz Khan and senior lawyers, including Qazi Muhammad Anwar, Ghulam Nabi, Ishtiaq Ibrahim and others, spoke at the meeting. The meeting condemned the botched attack on Latif Afridi, who has twice remained the PHCBA president and member of Pakistan Bar Council.The meeting noted that the law-enforcing agencies have failed to protect the citizens including the lawyers who are particularly under attack. The lawyers said that recently another senior lawyer Samiullah Afridi was killed on the outskirts of the provincial capital, but the law-enforcing agencies have still no clue about the identity of the killers. Speaking at the meeting, Ghulam Nabi said the PHC’s larger bench had given a historic verdict advising the parliament to amend sub-clause 7 of Article 247 of Constitution to extend the jurisdiction of superior courts to Fata to end lawlessness, but the Supreme Court cancelled the decision. He said the lawyers should unite against the elements that began targetting them after their successful movement for restoration of the judiciary and supremacy of the constitution.
