NWFP lawyers observe ‘black day’.

* Bar Council office-bearer says ‘state violence’ won’t stop lawyers from their struggle
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: NWFP lawyers observed Monday as ‘black day’ in protest against violence on the lawyers’ community during their Sunday’s rally for revival of judiciary and end to the house arrest of all deposed judges including deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. Lawyers boycotted court proceedings across the province against the reported police violence on lawyers. The lawyers also hoisted black flags on the court premises and wore black armbands inscribed with ‘Save Judiciary—Save Pakistan’.Struggle to continue: NWFP Bar Council Executive Committee Chairman Saeed Akhtar Khan told Daily Times that ‘state violence’ could not stop the legal fraternity from their struggle for reinstatement of 55 judges, and independence of judiciary and the Election Commission. He said like other provinces, the NWFP lawyers also observed “black day” and boycotted courts against the “state violence”. Akhtar Khan, who is also the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) vice president, said President Pervez Musharraf was trying to sabotage the lawyers’ yearlong movement for “judicial activism”. About the Pakistan Bar Council’s (PBC) decision to boycott PCO judges and subordinate judiciary till the February 18 general elections, he said the provincial lawyer associations had already decided to boycott the PCO judges till February 20.

link: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C12%5Cstory_12-2-2008_pg7_45