SBC ex-vice chairman: Lawyers boycott courts, Dahri laid to rest in Nawabshah
The courts in Karachi and Hyderabad were deserted on Friday as lawyers protested the killing of the former vice chairman of the Sindh Bar Council (SBC), Ali Muhammad Dahri.
In Karachi, several cases in the City Courts complex and Malir courts were adjourned as the lawyers responded to the strike called by the SBC. The members of the Sindh High Court Bar Association also joined the protest and said that the law and order situation in the province is “the worst ever”.
Later, the lawyers held separate meetings with their associations to condemn the murder. Inside the Shuhda-e-Punjab Hall, members of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) remembered the services of the deceased lawyer and demanded the government arrest his killers. At the end of the meetings, the lawyers offered prayers for Dahri.
KBA president Muhammad Aqil said that the lawyers are being targeted because the target killers are moving freely across Sindh. “The government has yet to contact us in the case of Ali Muhammad Dahri,” Aqil pointed out. The KBA, SBC and other bar councils will hold a joint meeting on April 14 to discuss a plan of action, he added.
The lawyers felt that the killing took place because the province does not have a home minister. KBA general secretary Haider Imam Rizvi said that, “the increase in target killings is due to the absence of the home minister”. “The chief minister cannot tackle all the matters alone. He should hand over charge to someone else.”
In Hyderabad, the lawyers boycotted court proceedings and hoisted black flags outside their offices. Hyderabad District Bar Association president Nisar Ahmed Durrani called a general body meeting, in which the members demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. They said that the perpetrators must be tried under anti-terrorism laws. A statement issued by Sindh Bar Council member Fazal Qadir Memon called for a three-day mourning period in all the bars in Sindh.
Case registered
The Nawabshah police have registered Dahri’s murder case against four members of the Brohi family - Mohammad Ashraf, Abdul Latif, Ghulam Nabi and Asmat - on the complaint of Shahbaz Dahri, the lawyer’s son. Eight ‘suspicious’ men have also been arrested from different areas, said the police.
Dahri’s last rites
Advocate Dahri was slain on Thursday, when he was coming home from the courts. His granddaughter was also injured in the attack.
Dahri was laid to rest on Friday and his funeral prayers were attended by Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F) central organiser Kashif Nizamani, former federal minister Faqeer Jadim Mangrio, and several lawyers and journalists.
The PML-F leaders condemned the killing and called his death “a major loss to the party”. Addressing a press conference, they said that the PML-F would observe a three-day mourning period during which all party activities would be suspended.
“There is nothing called ‘law’ in Pakistan. Everyone is in a constant state of fear and the government is only relying on verbal statements,” said All Pakistan Muslim League Lawyers Forum’s Sindh leader Adil Khanzai.
Additional input from PPI
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2011.
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