Chairman of the Bar of England & Wales, Chantal-Aimee Doerries QC, said of the death this week of 70 people in Pakistan after a suicide bombing at Quetta Civil Hospital where according to local reports mourners were gathering after the assassination of the president of the local bar association:
"The Bar Council condemns the killings in Quetta. Our sympathies are with the families and friends of all those killed. In England & Wales, we take for granted the low risk to life of conducting our professional duties. This shocking tragedy is a reminder of the risks many members of the world's legal profession have to face in seeking to uphold the rule of law in other jurisdictions. We stand in support of all those lawyers exposed to such risks in Pakistan and other countries."
At least 70 people, mainly lawyers and journalists, were killed and more than 100 injured. Among the victims were the local bar association's former president Baz Muhammad Kakar and former Supreme Court Bar Association vice-president Syed Qahir Shah.