Lawyers continue to boycott court proceedings across Balochistan over killing of Abdul Razzaq Shar

Lawyers continued to boycott court proceedings across Balochistan for a second day on Wednesday over the murder of senior Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Abdul Razzaq Shar in Quetta a day earlier.

Shar was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Alamo Chowk on Airport Road on Tuesday. Police said that the deceased was on his way to the Balochistan High Court when his vehicle came under attack by unknown men armed with automatic weapons.

The lawyer received 15 bullet injuries and died on the spot. “The slain advocate received 15 bullets on different parts of his body which caused his death,” a senior police officer said.

Condemning the killing, lawyers’ bodies had boycotted court proceedings across the province and announced three days of mourning.

Meanwhile, the government and the PTI traded blame over the incident, with both sides accusing the other of having a role in the killing.

Talking to Dawn.com today, Quetta Bar Association President Abid Kakar said the boycott would continue for three days. He also demanded a transparent investigation into Shar’s killing.

“The government and law enforcement agencies should take the deceased’s family into confidence over the registration of the first information report (FIR),” he said.

“We won’t sit quietly until Shar’s murderers are arrested,” Kakar added.

In a separate statement, the Balochistan High Court Bar Association condemned the government’s allegations against the PTI chief.

“A responsible government official blamed the leader of a political party for the murder without taking the lawyers’ associations and the deceased’s family into confidence,” the statement said, adding that the allegations were levelled for “political gains”.

The statement highlighted that the government’s accusations were an “attempt to influence the investigation”.

The association demanded that restraint be observed in issuing such “careless statements” and demanded that the FIR of the murder be lodged immediately.

The murder of the lawyer before a hearing of the high treason petition prompted a blame game between the government and the PTI.

The prime minister’s aide Attaullah Tarar had alleged that the lawyer was killed at the behest of Imran Khan to allegedly evade accountability in the treason case while PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan had accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of being behind the murder.

It may be recalled that Shar had filed a constitutional petition against PTI chief Imran Khan in the Balochistan High Court, seeking proceedings against the former premier under Article 6 that pertained to high treason.

His petition said that Imran Khan should be tried under Article 6 in light of the apex court decision which had recommended legal action against Imran Khan and Qasim Suri for illegally dissolving the National Assembly after the joint opposition had moved a no-trust motion against the PTI government in April 2022. The petition had been fixed for today for further hearing but was adjourned without any proceedings.

On the other hand, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan accused PM Shehbaz and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah of being behind the murder and sought their resignations, as well as a transparent probe.

The PTI also urged the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the murder of the lawyer and termed the government official’s presser an attempt to implicate Imran in another fake case.

Reacting to Tarar’s press conference, party spokesperson Hassan said that the PTI requested the apex court to take immediate notice of the attempt to implicate the PTI chief in another case. He claimed that the killing of Shar was a continuation of the unconstitutional and illegal campaign to crush the PTI.