Legal brotherhood: Swat lawyers to boycott courts on Monday

Move comes following repeated attacks on black coats.

MINGORA:

The district bar association has said the present wave of targeted attacks on lawyers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will not be tolerated. At a news conference at the Swat Press Club on Saturday, office bearers of the association decided to boycott courts on Monday following the decision of the K-P Bar Council.

The council members decided to gather after Qaumi Watan Party leader and lawyer Adalat Khan was killed along with two colleagues in a remote-controlled blast in Buner. They also demanded the government protect all citizens.

On February 13, lawyer Parwanat Khan and his father were shot and injured by unidentified militants in Nawakaley, Mingora.

“The present government seems to have completely failed to provide security to citizens, which is its primary duty. No one has been arrested, even though so many of our colleagues have been targeted,” said Razaullah, president of the Swat Bar Association (SBA).

“We are in constant contact with the police but they have showed no progress after the Parwanat Khan incident, which is regrettable. The silence of the government and political leaders is questionable.”

Lawyers present at the conference condemned the attacks on their colleagues and demanded security and serious investigation into the issue.

“If the government fails to provide security to lawyers and does not provide compensation to the victims’ families, we will decide our future course of action in our next meeting soon,” said Razaullah.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2014.