Quetta lawyers boycott courts to mourn August 8 carnage

Quetta lawyers boycott courts to mourn August 8 carnage

QUETTA: Quetta lawyers on Tuesday boycotted court proceedings to mourn the August 8, 2016 carnage and to protest the kidnapping of a local judge, Qazi Muhammad Jan.

The Balochistan High Court Bar Association (BHCBA) and the Quetta Bar Association had announced the boycott to mark the anniversary of the August 8 tragedy, which claimed more than 70 lives, including 56 members of the legal fraternity in Quetta.

No lawyer appeared in court as they mourned their colleagues who lost their lives in the deadly suicide bombing at Civil Hospital Quetta in 2016.

The Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) and Quetta Bar Association jointly called for the boycott to honor the slain lawyers and express solidarity with the victims’ families.

It is pertinent to mention here that, last Monday, a local judge, Qazi Muhammad Jan, serving in Kharan’s judiciary, was abducted by the unknown armed men from the court premises in Muskan Qalat, a tehsil of Balochistan’s Kharan district.

Muhammad Jan was on duty when the assailants stormed the court premises and took him away at gunpoint, and set the court on fire.

Security forces have launched a search operation in the area to trace the kidnappers and rescue the judge.

According to local authorities, the attackers are believed to be elements seeking to destabilize the region by targeting institutions that provide justice and relief to the people of Balochistan.

“These miscreants are enemies of peace and development in Balochistan,” an official said, adding that “they target public institutions to hide their own failures and to deny the Baloch people access to justice.”

Also Read: Open court session scheduled in Chaman to address public concerns

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

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