Pak Mourns Quetta Blast Victims, Lawyers Boycott Courts  

The national flag flew at half-mast as the government announced a national mourning.

Islamabad/Quetta: Lawyers in Pakistan on Tuesday boycotted courts and staged countrywide protests against the killing of their colleagues as a shocked nation mourned the death of 74 people in a horrific suicide bombing at a hospital in restive Balochistan province.

The national flag flew at half-mast as the government announced a national mourning. The Baluchistan government also announced a three-day mourning for those killed or injured and educational institutions remained closed in the province.

A suicide bomber on Monday struck 200 lawyers who had gathered outside the emergency ward of a civil hospital in Quetta after a senior lawyer was shot dead, killing at least 70 people, including 40 lawyers. The attack also left close to 115 people injured.

Four more persons injured in the blast succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday. Taliban’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction and Islamic State extremists claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan Bar Council in a statement said, Lawyers throughout the country will boycott court proceedings in protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta yesterday. The lawyers boycotted all courts in the country while observing mourning for their colleagues.

They held demonstrations in major cities including Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta wearing black arm bands and chanted slogans against terrorism. In Quetta, all businesses were closed to mourn the victims.

Two photo journalists were among those killed and media organisations strongly protested the killings and demanded protection for journalists.

Local police said that most of the victims were buried on Tuesday while dead bodies of those belonged to far flung areas were sent to their homes to be buried at their native places.

The Pakistan Army spokesman said in a tweet that the attack was specially targeting China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an ambitious USD 46 billion project to build a corridor that will also pass through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Baluchistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said there were indications that foreign elements were behind the suicide attack.

“Our province has been targetted by foreign elements who want to subvert the CPEC and cause law and order situation in Balochistan”, he said.

The Balochistan police asked the provincial government to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the attack. It would comprise experts from civil and military departments.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting in Quetta on Monday and ordered all state security institutions to respond with full might to eliminate terrorists.

“Terrorists are using innovating measures by hitting soft targets and one must respond in an advanced coordinated way”, he said.

PTI