RAWALPINDI, April 10: Lawyers, civil society organisations, traders as well as journalists on Thursday condemned the violence in Karachi that claimed the lives of 10 people.

The lawyers took out a protest rally against the killings and boycotted the courts. The boycott was observed both at the district and high courts.

Chanting slogans against the MQM and President Pervez Musharraf, they also staged a sit-in at Kutchri Chowk.

On the occasion, the District Bar Association passed a resolution demanding for ban on the MQM for its alleged involvement in the incident and registration of cases against its leaders. The lawyers also announced to observe three days of mourning against the death of their colleagues.

Speaking at the rally, the bar association office-bearers said that delay in the reinstatement of deposed judges would create more unrest.

They said conspiracies were being hatched in the presidency to stop return of the sacked judges and derail infant democracy.

The speakers said they did not believe in violence and that lawyers were not involved in the manhandling of former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi.

Violence in Karachi perpetrated by the MQM was unacceptable, they said, and demanded for a legal action against the perpetrators of the killings.

The protesters blocked the main GT Road and burnt an effigy of the MQM leader.

The Insaani Haqooq Itehad (IHI), an alliance of rights groups and individuals, in its statement demanded that the groups and individuals responsible for the violence be singled out and brought to justice without delay.

The statement said the violence in Lahore and Karachi was engineered to sabotage the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of pre-November judiciary.

The IHI called upon political leaders to play their role in strengthening the democratic institutions and respect the verdict of the people who, it said, voted against the dictatorship in the February 18 elections.

Politics of boycott and blame game must be stopped and a mature attitude adopted, the Itehad said, adding that it would continue its struggle for the reinstatement of the deposed judges if the Murree Declaration was not implemented.

In its statement, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) termed the situation in Karachi as dangerous and condemned acts of violence against mediapersons in the last one month, including the attack on them during the coverage in Karachi on Wednesday, and demanded security measures for them.

“It seems there is no end to violence against the journalists,” the statement. The journalists’ body also welcomed the assurance given by Federal Information Minister Sherry Rehman on the floor of the National Assembly, and hoped that it would be implemented.

“Journalists have been under a series of attacks in Karachi in the last month and this alarming increase in violence against them has created a sense of insecurity among the mediapersons,” the statement said.

The PFUJ also appealed to the owners of TV channels and newspapers to take safety measures for their employees and provide life insurance to them. President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abdur Rauf Chaudhry in a statement demanded to bring those responsible for the loss of precious lives and property to justice.

He said some “hidden hands” were out to create instability and unrest in the country and appealed to the people to forge unity in their ranks.

ATTOCK: Member Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Sheikh Ahsanuddin here on Thursday alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the PML-Q were orchestrating violence in the country.

He said the Karachi event was a replica of May 12 killings, perpetrated, he added, by the same group. He said that the lawyers’ struggle was peaceful and it had nothing to do with the violence against the former federal minister in Lahore.