There is no denying the fact that in recent days, several highly obnoxious and condemnable acts of the lawyers have been observed. They have manhandled uniformed police officers and thrashed pressmen. These were, no doubt, abominable acts of individuals who happened to be lawyers and the lawyers community is not directly responsible for these, indeed. But they would be held fully responsible if they do not act like a responsible civic community in response to these incidents. They have to publicly decry and forthrightly condemn the ones among them who committed such heinous acts. They must disown them, must not advocate their case and institute punitive action against them like the cancellation of their bar memberships etc. The expression of resolve to do so must come from the topmost leadership of lawyers to persuade the whole community. If that does not happen, then the whole lawyers community would be generally, and quite justifiably, held responsible for promoting violence and anarchy in the society. -M. ARIF RAO, Karachi, via e-mail, August 7.