The lawyers of Islamabad have noted with dismay and anguish the behaviour of some lawyers in Lahore who resorted to hooliganism in an attempt to obstruct the process of justice in the murder case of the 13-year old Shazia, the maidservant who was found dead recently. We were quite appalled to learn that these lawyers created mayhem in the district courts, chanted slogans against media for highlighting the case and, eventually, even stopped Shazia's family from entering the court premises. We request the Punjab Bar Council and the Pakistan Bar Council to take cognizance of this conduct unbecoming and weed out these undesirable elements from the community through disbar proceedings. As lawyers who fought for the independence of judiciary and rule of law, we cannot allow these unruly elements to subvert the legal process by using their black coats. It may well be that the accused is not guilty as charged; every person has to be deemed innocent until proven guilty, but that is no reason for lawyers resorting to this kind of behaviour in the court premises. We reiterate through this statement that we stand with the course of justice, whichever direction it takes. -HUMAIRA MASIHUDDIN, Islamabad, January 28.