In solidarity: Lawyers boycott courts to protest Sehwan attack

SHCBA condemns attack, says govts failing to protect the people

KARACHI: The legal fraternity once again boycotted legal proceedings in the metropolis on Friday to condemn the terrorist attack on the shrine of Sufi saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, which killed 88 devotees and injured many more on Thursday.

A day earlier, they had stayed away from courts as part of their nationwide protest to condemn the attack on a van transporting judges in Peshawar on Wednesday.

Instead of appearing in courts to plead their cases, members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) held a general body meeting, in which they expressed grave concern over the loss of precious lives. "The bar association strongly condemns the brutal suicide bomb attack on the shrine of the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar where at least 76 people have been massacred and 250 injured, including women and children," said the association's president Shahab Sarki in a joint resolution.

"This bar association is further of the view that the provincial as well as federal governments and other security agencies have been continuously failing to protect the lives of the innocent and defenceless citizens," he said.

He demanded the authorities provide sufficient and foolproof security to educational, and religious institutions, as well as mosques and shrines in the country, so that lives of the public could be protected, adding that the culprits must be brought to justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2017.