Registering protest: Lawyers boycott court proceedings

K-P Bar Council observes strike over attack on senior lawyer.

PESHAWAR: Courts in the district remained deserted on Tuesday amid a boycott of proceedings by lawyers. The call for boycott was given by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council in protest over a firing incident which targeted a senior lawyer on Monday.

Dozens of cases listed outside the courtrooms of high court judges as well as in lower courts could not be heard because lawyers did not show up, leaving litigants with no choice but to go back home.

Three armed men opened fire at Shahab Khattak, a lawyer at the Peshawar High Court, in Rasheed Garhi, Kohat Road on Monday. The lawyer fortunately escaped unhurt. He has filed an FIR at Yakatoot police station against unidentified assailants stating he has no disputes.

Nowshera

The District Bar Association (DBA) of Nowshera also boycotted court proceedings against the attack on Khattak.

DBA President Muhammad Ijaz Khan while presiding over a meeting of the association asked the provincial government to improve the province’s law and order and to provide security to lawyers.

Ijaz urged lawyers to continue the protest to pressurise the government to catch the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2014.