Lawyers’ strike: Litigants left at loose ends

KARACHI: Litigants suffered as lawyers observed a strike on Wednesday in protest of the October 24 terrorist attack on a police training centre in Quetta.

The strike was observed on the call of the Pakistan Bar Council to condemn the attack in which 62 people were killed.

The City and Malir courts wore a deserted look as neither lawyers appeared in courts nor were UTP prisoners brought from jail for case hearings. A number of people who wanted to meet their jailed relatives, friends or others and those who wanted to proceed with their litigation came to the courts in vain. On average, around 500 inmates are brought to the city courts daily from central and Malir jails, said SI Khalid Khan, in-charge of the City Courts lockup.

A middle-aged woman, Zulekha, whose son was incarcerated in a drug peddling case, expressed annoyance over the strike, saying ‘boycotting’ courts had become routine. "The terrorist attack was tragic but there should have been a better way to show solidarity with the fallen," she remarked. A similar situation was observed in SHC where all the boards were discharged in the morning and only important matters were taken up for hearing inside the judges' chambers.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2016.