May 12, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
Nineteen years have passed since one of the darkest days in Karachi’s history, yet not a single person has been convicted for the May 12, 2007 massacre. For the families of more than 50 people killed that day, justice remains as distant as ever.
On May 12, 2007, armed attackers descended on rallies organised by political workers and members of the legal fraternity who had gathered to receive then-deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry at Karachi airport. Justice Chaudhry, who had been held at the airport for nine hours, was ultimately forced to fly back to Islamabad. By the time the violence subsided, over 50 people were dead and more than 100 wounded — lawyers, political activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens caught in what the legal community describes as state-sponsored terrorism designed to crush the movement for judicial independence.
Two decades later, seven cases stemming from the carnage remain mired in the courts, with no convictions on record.
Cases in cold storage
In January 2025, an antiterrorism court acquitted MQM-Pakistan leader and former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar along with two others in one of the seven pending cases. Six identical cases filed in 2007 continue to languish. MQM founder Altaf Hussain and several other accused have been declared absconders, with the court ruling that proceedings against them remain suspended until their arrest.
Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) President Muhammad Haseeb Jamali says the cases have effectively been put in cold storage. He believes only a judicial inquiry can identify the planners, abettors and executors of the massacre — but he holds little hope the provincial government will pursue one.
“The provincial government is not serious about a judicial inquiry because it would unmask many influential police and government officials who now occupy important positions,” Jamali told Voicepk.
Senior lawyer GM Farooq is equally scathing. He says neither the government nor the police have ever treated the cases with the seriousness they deserve. “The police neither collected evidence properly nor conducted effective investigations from the very first day. That is why the culprits have escaped punishment,” he said.
Sindh Bar Council member Riaz Ahmed Bhatti echoed the call for action. “The Sindh government must take special steps to bring the May 12 cases to a logical conclusion so that the affected families can finally get justice,” he said. “In legal terms, May 12 was not just a political incident — it was a major tragedy involving the murder of lawyers, political workers and ordinary citizens. Yet despite the passage of almost two decades, the victims remain deprived of justice.”
Black Day observed
On May 12, 2026, lawyers across Sindh marked the 19th anniversary by wearing black armbands, holding protest meetings, and observing Black Day in solidarity with the victims of the Lawyers’ Movement. In Karachi, the SHCBA suspended judicial work from 11am and held a commemoration at the High Court building, where prayers were offered for the fallen.
In a statement issued on the occasion, the SHCBA said the day’s events amounted to “an assault not just on human lives, but a direct assault on the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, democratic values, and the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan.”
The association condemned what it called “barbaric violence, political terrorism, and state-sponsored repression” unleashed on that day, and expressed grave concern that those responsible — the perpetrators, planners, facilitators and abettors — have yet to face accountability.
“The continued silence and failure to ensure accountability remain a stain on the conscience of this nation and a challenge to the rule of law,” the SHCBA statement read.
The bar association renewed its demands for immediate and transparent accountability for all those responsible for the massacre, formal recognition of the martyrs of the Lawyers’ Movement, protection of democratic institutions and constitutional freedoms, an end to political violence and state repression, and the release of all political prisoners.
A movement’s unhealed wound
For the legal fraternity, May 12 is inseparable from the broader struggle that eventually led to Justice Chaudhry’s restoration and a landmark moment for judicial independence in Pakistan. But the absence of justice for the day’s victims has left that chapter unresolved.
“The SHCBA reiterates that the legal fraternity shall never forget the sacrifices of the martyrs of May 12 and shall continue its unwavering struggle for the supremacy of the Constitution, the independence of the judiciary, democracy, and the protection of fundamental rights,” the association said.