Lawyers boycott courts to protest against Charlie Hebdo

Karachi
The city’s legal fraternity boycotted courts on Monday to lodge their protest against the publication of blasphemous sketches in a French satirical newsletter, Charlie Hebdo.
Adopting a resolution at a general body meeting of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the lawyers demanded that the government should sever its ties with France and other western countries if they did not ban the publication of blasphemous material. The resolution read: “Such malicious attacks on the sanctity of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) are tantamount to hate crime.”
Describing the blasphemous sketches as a deliberate attempt to incite violence, create disharmony and misunderstandings and hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world, the lawyers called upon the United Nations and the European Union to stop their publication.
The SHCBA also took notice of the “unexplainable” and “unjustified” silence of the Organisation of Islamic Conference over the issue.
“Western countries should recognise and accept the fact that Muslim societies hold the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and all other religious symbols and personalities in highest respect. As such, it is beyond the control of more than one and a half billion Muslims to tolerate any insult to the Holy Prophet (PBUH),” it was stated in the resolution.
The lawyers also demanded that the government should take up the issue with the international court of justice and frame a comprehensive foreign policy for this purpose.
Addressing the meeting, SHCBA president Abid S Zuberi said Muslims all over the world should unite and send a strong message to the western countries that the publication of such blasphemous sketches would not be tolerated.
The lawyers represented by the Karachi Bar Association and the Malir Bar Association staged a rally outside the Karachi Press Club to express their anger over the blasphemous sketches and burned the French flag and effigies of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists.