QUETTA: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has termed terrorism in the country part of a conspiracy to weaken Pakistan and called for concentrated efforts by all segments of society for its elimination.

He was speaking at a condolence reference jointly organised by the Balochistan High Court Bar Association (BHCBA) and other lawyers’ organisations on Tuesday to mark the first death anniversary of lawyers who were killed in last year’s deadly bomb blast in Quetta.

On Aug 8 last year a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the city’s Civil Hospital where a large number of lawyers had gathered after the body of Bilal Anwar Kasi, president of the Balochistan Bar Association who was killed in an attack earlier in the day, was brought there. The blast killed 73 people, 56 of them lawyers, and injured over 100 others. Some media personnel were also among the dead and the injured.

Paying tribute to the slain lawyers, the chief justice said the lawyers of Balochistan had played an important role to uphold the rule of law in the country. It was difficult to find words to pay tribute to martyred lawyers who always worked for the provision of justice to needy people, he added.

Pays tribute to lawyers killed in Aug 8 suicide bombing in Quetta

Chief justices of the country’s four high courts and Gilgit-Baltistan’s Supreme Appellate Court, Supreme Court Bar Association President Rasheed A. Razvi, SCBA’s former presidents Asma Jahangir and Kamran Murtaza, BHCBA Pres­ident Shah Muhammad Jatoi and a large number of lawyers atte­nded the condolence reference.

CJ Nisar strongly condemned last year’s deadly blast, saying that it had taken away some of the finest legal minds of the country and created a big vacuum in the legal fraternity of Balochistan. He called upon senior lawyers of the province to train their juniors to fill the gap so that the process of the provision of justice to needy people could not be disturbed. He said proper training of young lawyers was necessary for the provision of affordable justice to people.

Remembering the fateful day of Aug 8 last year, CJ Nisar said he visited Quetta very next day and witnessed himself the pain and anger in the city’s lawyers over the loss of their colleagues.

The chief justice said enemies of the country were using incidents of terrorism in the country to distract its economic growth. He emphasised that the menace of terrorism should be eliminated from the country and people involved in it should be brought to justice. Politicians, lawyers, judiciary and security agencies should join hands and play their effective role in defeating terrorism, he added.

He said if the people of Pak­istan wanted to give a strong and stable country to their future generations they would have to fight the menace of terrorism with their full strength. For the integrity and solidarity of the country it was necessary for the nation to defeat terrorism, he said, adding that only a united and strong nation could win this fight.

He said establishment of peace in the country was essential for its progress and prosperity and that all segments of the society had a role to play for achieving this task.

The chief justice directed judicial academies to prepare special programmes for training of young lawyers. He called for measures for the protection of judges and lawyers.

CJ Nisar stressed the need for improving the standard of legal education in the country and said that one could not become a lawyer by just obtaining a law degree. He said young lawyers should focus on legal studies and try to learn from the experiences of their seniors. He also called upon senior lawyers to play their role for improving the standard of their juniors.

SCBA President Razvi criticised the government for what he called trying to close the file of lawyers’ massacre in the last year’s suicide blast by claiming that all five terrorists involved in the incident had been killed.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2017