Pakistani lawyers boycott courts to protest Quetta carnage

Senior Pakistani lawyers have staged a strike in much of the country to protest a terrorist bomb attack that killed dozens of people, including many of their colleagues, during a gathering in Baluchistan.

“Lawyers throughout the country will boycott court proceedings on Tuesday in protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta yesterday,” the Pakistan Bar Council said in a statement on Tuesday, adding provincial and district bar councils would join the strike.

On Monday, a bomber detonated his explosives near the Civil Hospital in Quetta city of Balochistan Provinc, where some 200 lawyers along with journalists had gathered to accompany the body of a prominent attorney shot earlier in the day.

At least 70 people lost their lives and 112 others wounded in the bombing, according to official figures.

Balochistan Government Spokesman Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar said the province’s schools would also remain shut on Tuesday “to mourn the loss.”

He added that funerals for many of the victims have already been held.

“Those who were living in and close to Quetta city have already buried their loved ones, while those belonging to far flung areas will be buried today,” said Kakar.

Meanwhile, lawyers in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, took to the street on Tuesday and chanted anti-terrorism slogans.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court Bar Association has announced a week-long mourning over the fatal assault.

ME