Lawyers to observe strike every Friday

PESHAWAR: Amidst province wide boycott of courts, the lawyers here on Monday decided to go on strike every Friday to protest the growing incidents of violence against them.The decision was taken during a provincial convention of lawyers held under the aegis of Peshawar High Court Bar Association, Peshawar District Bar Association and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.The participants of the convention called upon the government to take concrete steps for the recovery of two kidnapped lawyers. The people kidnapped by the intelligence agencies should also be set free, they said.They threatened to stage a sit-in outside provincial assembly if their colleagues were not recovered at the earliest. The lawyers in the provincial capital have been on strike since Jan 18 and from now onwards they will boycott courts across the province once a week.PHCBA president Syed Attique Shah, Supreme Court Bar Association vice president Mohammad Arif Khan, PDBA president Razaulklah Khan, vice chairman of bar council Iqbal Hoti, member of bar council Faheem Akbar, Khwaja Mohammad Khan Gara, presidents of Kohat, Takhtbhai, Wari and Swabi bar associations, Riaz Khan, Qamar zaman, Niaz Mohammad and Arshid Khan respectively addressed the convention.They said that they waited for several months and provided space to authorities for the recovery of their colleagues, but the government and law enforcement agencies failed to play an effective role.They said that Advocate Zain Khan Khalil was kidnapped for ransom in Sept last, whereas Bashir Khan had been missing for the last two years.The speakers said that one of their colleagues, Yawar Saleem, was kidnapped and killed in Haripur, whereas Amir Mohammad Khan was killed in Swabi.They added that two lawyers, Jamrooz Khan Afridi and Hamid Shehzad, were kidnapped and set free after payment of ransom.They said that both the federal and provincial governments miserably failed in maintaining law and order in the country in general and in the province in particular. “There is now no moral justification for them to stay in power – Dawn