KARACHI, May 19: Lawyers in the City Courts and Malir Courts on Saturday continued the one-hour boycott of court proceedings and observed a token hunger strike as a part of the lawyers’ country-wide campaign against the suspension of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.Six members of Karachi Bar Association and two members of Malir Bar Association observed a token hunger strike. They were Arshad Mehmood, Chaudhry Mohammad Shehzad Arshad, Mohammad Ghalib Siddiqui, Nasiruddin Amjad, Rehmat Ali and Nizakat Khan, Ali-ur-Rehman and Bahadur Khan Khattak.

Addressing a general body meeting of the KBA at Shuhda-i-Punjab Hall, Naeem Qureshi, Mushtaq Awan, Raja Riaz, Aamir Niaz Khan, Samad Baloch, Tariq Khan Niazi and Sarwar Mohammad Khan said the government wished to prolong the proceedings of presidential reference in order to weaken lawyers’ campaign which, they said, was a misconception of the rulers.

They said it happened for the first time that lawyers ran a prolonged campaign and never resorted to violence, but the government used state machinery against them. They said the lawyers were physically tortured by armed men in the presence of law enforcers, which could not be ignored.

Pakistan Bar Council member Mohammad Yasin Azad, Sindh Bar Council members Mustafa Lakhani, Salahuddin Khan Gandapur, Sati M. Ishad and former general secretary of Sindh High Court Bar Association Moin Azhar were also present on the occasion. They asked lawyers to step up their efforts for independence of judiciary.

A general body meeting of Malir Bar Association was also held at the bar room, which was addressed by Bar President Zahoor Hussain Awan, General Secretary Naeem Memon. Leaders of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and other opposition parties also visited Malir bar and addressed the lawyers. They were Niamatullah Khan, MNA Asadullah Bhutto, Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, Siddique Rathore, Nehal Hashmi, Maulana Iqbal, Zubair Khan, Basharat Mirza and Maulana Ihsanullah.