Protesting lawyer’s murder: RY Khan District Bar continues boycott

Gives police 48 hours to arrest those who killed, abandoned lawyer’s body.

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

Members of the Rahim Yar Khan District Bar Association will continue to boycott the courts on Friday (today) for the second day to protest the murder of a lawyer whose body was recovered from the road along the canal here on Thursday.

The RY Khan High Court Bar Association and other lawyers from across the division will join the protest and the strike today.

On Wednesday, the family of the deceased and some district bar lawyers gathered outside the Shaikh Zayed Hospital and protested against the police. The protest was led by Bar President Malik Sajid Ali Feroze. The protestors demanded the immediate arrest of the killers. They said if there were no arrests in 48 hours, the boycott would continue.

They later dispersed after District Police Officer Sohail Zafar Chattha, Station House Officer Muhammad Younis, Deputy Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Mehmoodul Hassan and former nazim Qazi Jalil arrived at the scene and assured them that the police would investigate and find the murderers.

Police said that a passer-by noticed two men, on a motorcycle, throwing a body wrapped in a cloth into the canal on Thursday. They said he shouted at the men, who abandoned the body on the road and fled.  The man then informed the police and the deceased was identified as Saeed Gopang, an advocate at the district and sessions court.

Police said there were no marks or apparent injuries on the body and thus they could not speculate how the lawyer had been killed. The body was sent to Shaikh Zayed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The deceased had reportedly gone to collect his children from a madarassa on a motorcycle. The family said they had no idea who could have killed him. They said he did not have any enemies.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.