KARACHI: The Customs Court on Monday postponed the hearing of 22 cases related to customs and income tax due to the boycott of lawyers on the call of Pakistan Bar Council, Sindh Bar Council, Sindh High Court Bar Association, Karachi Bar Association and Malir Bar Association against the killing of Balochistan Bar Association’s president and other 54 people at Quetta’s Civil Hospital.
During the hearing, the court was informed by the representatives of legal bodies that due to killing of Balochistan Bar Association’s president and other people, the bar associations announced strike, therefore, court suspended the work and adjourned the hearing of these cases after 11am.
It needs to be mentioned here that a suicide bomber targeted the emergency services ward at Quetta’s Civil Hospital when dozens of lawyers gathered at the hospital following the killing of the Balochistan Bar Association’s President, who was shot dead in a separate shooting incident at Monday morning.
According to the cause list, 11 out of 22 cases were fixed for formal hearing of accused namely Khudadad & others, Amir Shahzad & others, Rana Zahoor Elahi &others, Zakaria Muhammad &others, Muhammad Saleem & other, Hussain Umer & others, Younus Mandiwala & others, Naveed Ahmed, S Mehmood Ali Iqbal & others.
Eight out of overall 22, cases were fixed for prosecution evidences against accused Tafzeel Ahmed & others, Abid Aziz, Azher Iqbal, Muhammad Rashid, Zafar Siddiqui, Muhammad Moosa, Amir Ghani & others.
Remaining three cases were fixed for confirmation of bails of accused namely Syed Aziz Hussain Shah, Imtiaz Ahmed and others.
