Pakistan: Lawyers declare indefinite court boycott against Indus canals project
Islamabad, April 22 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) The lawyers’ association in Pakistan has called for an indefinite boycott of the courts as it continues to stage a sit-in protest against the canal project of the federal government on the Indus River.
The office bearers of the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and Karachi Bar Association (KBA), leading the sit-in protest on the National Highway in Babarloi town of Khairpur district last week, announced this decision on Monday, local media reported.
Addressing the media, KBA’s President Advocate Amir Nawaz Warraich said that a meeting of the representatives of all bar associations in Sindh has decided to widen the sphere of their sit-in protest by boycotting the courts.
They further threatened to block railway tracks if the federal government failed to shelve the canal project within 72 hours, the leading Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune, reported.
“We have also jointly decided that if the federal government does not notify cancellation of the canals project within 72 hours, we will demand that the Pakistan Peoples Party leave the government,” Warraich said.
“An impression is being given that only the lawyers have been protesting in Sindh. To negate it, the doctors will observe a day-long strike across Sindh after one or two days,” he added.
Meanwhile, in an interview with a local news channel, SHCBA Hyderabad’s President Advocate Ayaz Hussain Tunio said that after the 72-hour deadline, the blockade of the railway tracks will start from Rohri, Sukkur district.
He stated that the meeting discussed that the interprovincial traffic, which is finding some routes in the province, needs to be closed.
Raising concerns, he added that their camp at Babarloi has not been provided adequate security, warning that in the event of any untoward incident, Pakistan’s police DIG of Sukkur district and SSP of Khairpur will be held responsible.
Meanwhile, in response to the Sindh Bar Council’s call for protest against canals, several lawyers did not appear in the Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court and lower courts.
They said that their colleagues’ sit-in at Babarloi bypass would continue till the government shelved the project.
The protest against the construction of the six canals on the Indus River was also witnessed in the medical institutes of Pakistan.
The students of Chandka Medical College (CMC), under the flag of the all-parties students’ action committee, held a demonstration on the college premises against the canals, demanding that the government withdraw the plan, the leading Pakistani newspaper, Dawn reported.
Addressing journalists, they said that the canal project was aimed at destroying Sindh’s fertile land, striking at its economic resources, disrupting the ecosystem, and affecting the Indus Delta and the civilisation.
Furthermore, the members of the Pakistan Paramedical Staff Association also staged a demonstration against the canals at the CMC Children’s Hospital. The protesters said that it was a conspiracy and that their organisation would not allow it to succeed.
They further added it would be unwise to go ahead with such a project that would irrigate the desert land in Cholistan at the cost of rendering thousands of acres of fertile land in Sindh barren.
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