PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council on Monday announced to boycott court proceedings across the province on Tuesday (today) to protest the deteriorating law and order situation and killing of the family members of a Peshawar High Court lawyer in the restive Kurram district.

In a statement issued here, KP Bar Council vice-chairman Sadiq Ali Mohmand and chairman executive committee Syed Taimur Ali Shah voiced their concerns over the deteriorating law and order situation in Kurram and other southern districts, and said that the loss of lives in militant attacks was a failure of the government and law enforcement agencies.

They said that family members of PHC lawyer Noor Wali Muqbal lost their lives in a militant attack in Kurram.

The statement said that government and its institutions had failed to perform their duty of protecting the lives of the public and were only trying to protect themselves.

Besides, it said that attacks on judiciary in southern districts of the province were an attempt to paralyse the judicial system. It alleged that both the provincial government and law enforcement agencies were engaged in politics and leg-pulling, which was resulting into loss of lives in KP in general and in southern districts in particular.

“This shows that the government and LEAs are not interested in protecting the lives of people,” the statement said.

The KP bar also gave the government and its functionaries, including the chief secretary and the police chief, a week’s deadline to take remedial measures to improve the situation; otherwise, the lawyers’ fraternity would be forced to convene a meeting to chart their next course of action.

The bar also condemned the militant attack on Bannu Police Lines.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2024