Lawyers in Karachi, following the decision of Sindh Bar Council on Thursday partiality boycotted court proceedings for one hour and observed a token hunger strike against making CJP non functional and reference against him before Supreme Judicial Council.
Lawyers stayed away from court proceedings for an hour from 10:30 to 11:30 am at Sindh High Court and City Court. Member Sindh Bar Council Noor Naz Aga, Z K Jatoi at SHC and President Karachi Bar Association Iftikhar Javed, General Secretary Naeem Quraishi and Joint Secretary Amir Niaz observed a token hunger strike at City Court.
A large numbers of lawyers also staged a sit-in outside KBA office at City Court and chanted slogans against lodging FIR. Partial boycott of court proceedings for an hour and token hunger strike from 10 am to 4 pm daily will be observed till All Pakistan Lawyers Convention, scheduled on March 17 in Lahore, chalked out future line of action in this regard.
Opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro visited City Court and expressed solidarity with protesting lawyers. He charged that filling of reference against CJP had defamed the image of Pakistan in the world.
He condemned lodging of FIR against lawyers for holding protest demonstration at the Sindh Assembly Building. He also assured them of his support in struggle for rule of law. Lawyer of non functional CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and President Supreme Court Bar Association Muneer A Malik visited the hunger strike camp at SHC, appreciated unity of lawyers and vowed to continue struggle till 'complete freedom of judiciary'.
Noor Naz Aga said lawyers would continue struggle against President's reference as they considered it illegal and unconstitutional. She vowed that government's threats and cases against lawyers would not deter their struggle for uphold of the constitution.