Karachi: Lawyers on Thursday boycotted the court proceedings to protest the murder of a senior lawyer, who was gunned down on Wednesday in a suspected sectarian attack raising concerns among the community regarding unabated killings.
Mubarak Raza Kazmi, the senior lawyer of the Sindh High Court, was shot dead in Gulshane Iqbal area on Wednesday afternoon by four unknown attackers who were riding on two motorcycles. Kazmi was the son-in-law of Talib Johry, a prominent Shiite orator who is revered for his scholastic speeches.
The lawyers of Sindh High Court and the City Court stayed away from the court proceedings while the judges had to hear important cases in their chambers.
The police registered a case against unknown killers.
Sindh High Court Bar Association official Z.K. Jatoi in a media talk said that at least 40 lawyers had been gunned down so far. He further said that the majority of the lawyers killing was carried out on sectarian basis, fewer were killed on the personal basis and some of the lawyers were killed in crossfire.
Sectarian killings had raised many folds in Pakistan during recent years, according to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
The independent HRCP data says that at least 687 people were killed in more than 200 sectarian attacks in 2013.
The report also observed that the minorities were facing increasing violence in the country.
