Lawyers boycott duties to protest against colleague’s killing

They warned of a larger movement for peace in karachi.

KARACHI: Lawyers boycotted their duties in the city on Monday as they protested against the targeted killing of their colleague, Advocate Mian Mohammad Tariq. They also warned of starting a movement to maintain the law and order situation, if the government failed to protect the lives and properties of its citizens.

Advocate Tariq was shot dead in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 17 on February 8, shortly after he had parked his car in his apartment’s parking zone.

Proceedings at the Sindh High Court remained suspended on Monday, as the lawyers marched towards Chief Minister House to condemn Tariq’s murder. Members of the SHC Bar Association also held a general body meeting and condemned the incident.

The lawyers complained that law enforcers had failed to control the law and order situation in the city, where around 12 people were being gunned down every day, on average. “There is no writ of the government, and people are being killed indiscriminately,” they said.

They alleged that the Supreme Court’s orders in the Karachi violence case were not being implemented. The law and order situation would improve if those orders are implemented in letter and spirit, they argued.

They demanded that the government arrest Tariq’s killers, and also urged it to pay Rs20 million as compensation to the heirs of the deceased. They later dispersed peacefully.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2013.