Pursuing demands: Pressing for recovery of abducted advocates

Lawyers to observe one-day weekly boycott of courts across K-P.

PESHAWAR: Lawyers announced a one-day per week boycott of courts across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) to press for safe recovery of the two kidnapped advocates, Zain Khan Khalil and Bashir Khan. The resolution was passed at a lawyers’ convention held here on Monday.

The lawyers community demanded the provincial and federal governments take practical steps for recovery of the kidnapped lawyers, else they will lay siege to the provincial and national assemblies in protest.

The Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA) General Secretary Aminur Rehman said that since the lawyers’ movement, five senior lawyers of K-P: Sardar Khan of Peshawar, Yawar Salim of Haripur, Amir Mohammad Khan of Swabi, Jamil Khan of Temargara and Ihsanul Haq of Hangu were killed, while four others were kidnapped for ransom. He said that out of the four kidnapped lawyers, Jamroz Khan and Hamid Shehzad have been released by the kidnapers after their family paid them Rs1 million in ransom. Advocates Zain Khan Khalil and Bashir Khan, however, are still in the custody of the kidnappers for the past few months, and the abductors are demanding huge amounts for their ransom.

PHCBA and Peshawar District Bar Association (PDBA) called the convention on a four-point agenda, including growing incidents of kidnapping, corruption inside and outside judiciary, missing persons issue and failure of provincial government to protect lawyers.

The lawyers seemed divided over the number of days per week they should boycott courts. .

The PHCBA President Syed Mohammad Attique Shah said, “The present government has failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation to protect citizens.” He said that the provincial government completely ignored the kidnappings of lawyers and other citizens in the province .

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2011.