Advocate’s Killing: Lawyers boycott courts in the province

FAISALABAD:

District Bar Associations (DBAs) of Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Samundari, Tandanwala, and Jaranwala observed a strike in courts on Tuesday on the call of Punjab Bar Council in protest against the killing of former Jaranwala Bar Association president Akbar Awan.

Awan was gunned down by unidentified assailants on his way to tehsil courts on Canal Road on Monday. In a statement issued to the press, the DBAs demanded immediate arrest of the people responsible for the murder.

Meanwhile, several litigants were inconvenienced by a boycott observed by lawyers in all courts of Faisalabad. Fatima, a litigant, said her petition for maintenance allowance from his husband had been pending in the court for three years.

She said most of the times hearing in the case was adjourned due to court boycott by lawyers. She said lawyers should devise a plan that their protests do not harm litigants. “I don’t have any other source of income. I need maintenance allowance to feed my children,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th, 2012.