The council urged the federal and the provincial governments to provide compensation to the families of the deceased; 7 million Pakistani rupees ($66,900) for each lawyer who was killed and 3.5 million Pakistani rupees for each injured, Dawn online noted.
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At least 70 people were killed and over 100 others injured today when a Taliban suicide bomber struck mourners, mostly lawyers, gathered at a hospital in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province in one of the deadliest terror attacks in the country this year.
Journalists in Lahore hold candles during a rally to pay tribute to their colleagues who were killed in Monday’s suicide bombing in Quetta.
But in what was likely an opportunistic statement, the Islamic State group also claimed responsibility for the Quetta attack later on Monday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
Shops and schools were closed and security was tight in various parts of the local Balochistan province on Tuesday, as relatives began to bury the victims of the attack, Shah said.
The United States has strongly condemned the Quetta blast and offered its assistance to Pakistan on investigating the barbaric attack. The attack was initially claimed by Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban fighting to overthrow the government and establish Islamic law.
Earlier on Monday, the prominent lawyer and President of the local Balochistan Bar Association, Bilal Anwar Kasi, was shot trying to reach Quetta’s court complex. A powerful bomb went off on the grounds of a government-run hospital Monday, killing dozens of people, police said.
Lawyers in twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi boycotted their duties. He said lawyers will observe three days of mourning and will not appear in court in solidarity with their colleagues and others killed in the attack. Baluchistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri agreed with that analysis. “Lawyers will not just protest this attack but also prepare a long-term plan of action”.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Quetta after the attack, and said “all state security institutions must respond with full might to decimate these terrorists”.
Almost 200 lawyers were being treated at different hospitals in the city, Iqbal said, some with critical injuries.
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Sharif said: “No one will be allowed to disturb the peace of the province”. As well, the Afghan Taliban’s leadership is based in Quetta, and infighting, militant-driven assassinations and kidnappings have scarred the city.
