THE unruly behaviour of lawyers on Thursday, when they attacked the police and manhandled the media persons at court premises in Lahore, has brought disgrace to the countrys legal fraternity. It would be safe to say that of late, there has been a little too much of mob mentality. Granted, the provocation came from the Samanabad police, which had barged into the house of an advocate a few days earlier, and arrested two of the family members. A district and session judge was hearing a petition seeking action against the 'errant policemen. It was, therefore, obligatory upon the black coats to hold their horses and let the law take its course. But regardless of that, they threw the court complex into a mad commotion and roughed up the policemen as well as the journalists. The judge had to be escorted out of the court room to a place of safety. The media men were thrashed simply because they were covering the event, which the lawyers didnt want to be reported. This was not enough to satiate their anger. Adding to the hardships of the poor litigants, the Lahore Bar Association went on strike on Friday. So what are the lawyers up to? Are they hoping to be a law unto themselves? Given their conduct for the past several months the answer is certainly in the positive. Consider the Shazia murder case, when the lawyers literally turned the courts into a bedlam, trying to coerce the judge into giving a favourable decision. Such misdemeanours had been witnessed during the lawyers movement for the restoration of judges but were dismissed as the work of some intelligence personnel, disguised as lawyers. However, the black sheep among the legal community are now proving that they have the guts to disregard the law. The hooliganism on Thursday should be condemned vehemently. The need for discipline was never more pronounced. Not only the lawyers involved in Thursdays incident should be punished, it would be in the communitys interest, if such bad eggs are evicted from their ranks.