YESTERDAY'S EDITION carried a front-page photo of President Musharraf's baton-wielding police suppressing a protest by hundreds of lawyers, who were demonstrating against Musharraf's suspension of the constitutional government in Pakistan. The lawyers were reported to have been hauled away. One wonders whether we will ever see or hear from them again. In the 16th century, Shakespeare's character, Dick the Butcher, in "Henry VI" stated: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." While the significance of this quote has often been used to cast aspersions at lawyers, its intended meaning is that lawyers can be counted on to fight to protect the individual rights of citizens from suppression. Yesterday, more than 400 years later, the true meaning of Shakespeare's words was played out in dramatic fashion.
ANNETTE GONTHIER-KIELY
South Hamilton
