MULTAN/MUZAFFARGARH/
TOBA TEK SINGH
The black coats observed black day throughout South Punjab on Tuesday to mark the eighth anniversary of May 12, 2007 tragedy.
Court work in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions remained completely suspended as no lawyer appeared in any court of law. The attorneys wore black armbands and held protest meetings. They also shouted slogans against former president Pervez Musharraf and MQM. Addressing the participants of a protest meeting, High Court Bar Association Multan president Muhammad Ali Gilani said that the lawyers could not forget the day when 42 political activists and lawyers were massacred by the hooligans on behest of a dictator in Karachi. He added that the Musharraf regime was responsible for the tragedy as police were disarmed and given batons. The other speakers demanded public hanging of those, who were involved in killings of 42 people on May 12. They said that military dictator Musharraf had removed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry by force as he had refused to accept dictator’s dictation.
In Muzaffargarh, the lawyers observed black day throughout the district to mark the 8th anniversary of May 12, carnage in Karachi. They wore black armbands and boycotted courts. District Bar Association Muzaffargarh President Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Khan Patafi said that “we can’t forget the day when 42 political activists and lawyers were killed in a brutal manner.” Senior lawyers and former DBA president Malik Jawad Iqbal and Shahid Iqbal Khanazada said that the Musharraf regime was responsible for the incident for it had disarmed police and given them batons. They said that Pervez Musharraf, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and the MQM were hands in glove at that time. Lawyers raised slogans against terrorists and said that those who were involved in the murder of innocent people in Karachi on May 12, should be hanged.
In Toba Tek Singh, on the call of Pakistan Bar Council, lawyers observed black day across the district to mark the day of May 12,2007 when dozens of innocents people were shot dead in Karachi on the arrival of then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry during the movement for restoration of judges of the apex court.