Lawyers across the country boycott courts and hold marches and demonstrations
Islamabad/Quetta: Lawyers in Pakistan yesterday boycotted courts and staged protests against the killing of their colleagues as a shocked nation mourned the death of 75 people in a horrific suicide bombing at a hospital in the Balochistan province. The national flag flew at half-mast as the government announced national mourning.
Pakistani lawyers offer in absentia funeral prayers for their colleagues a day after the suicide attack. Pic/AFP
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A suicide bomber yesterday struck 200 lawyers who had gathered outside the civil hospital in Quetta after a senior lawyer was shot dead.
Taliban’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction and Islamic State extremists claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan Bar Council in a statement said, “Lawyers throughout the country will boycott court proceedings in protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta yesterday (Monday).”
The lawyers held demonstrations in major cities including Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta, wearing black arm bands and chanted slogans against terrorism.
In Quetta, all businesses were closed to mourn the victims. Local police said that most of the victims were buried yesterday while dead bodies of those belonged to far-flung areas were sent to their homes.
PM Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting in Quetta yesterday asking for a response will full might. “Terrorists are using innovating measures by hitting soft targets and one must respond in an advanced coordinated way,” he said.
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