PHC forms body to devise new security plan for KP judges

PESHAWAR: A committee was formed on Monday to prepare a new security plan for the judicial officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The committee to be headed by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Registrar Ikhtiar Khan would sit with all the stakeholders to set new security protocols for the judges and other judicial offers in the province. The decision was made at a meeting on security affairs for judicial officers, with PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim in the chair.

Senior Puisne Judge Justice Ijaz Anwar, all judges of the PHC, registrar, additional registrar (admin) Mumraiz Khan Khalil, additional registrar (judicial) Hidayatullah, KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary, Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Khan , Additional Chief Secretary Abid Majeed, capital city police officer, Peshawar, deputy inspector general of police Counter-terrorism Department, presidents of PHC Bar Association and District Bar Association, Peshawar, and others attended the meeting.

The police and provincial government authorities briefed the participants on steps taken for the security of judicial officers in the province and informed them about the recent incident in Tank and the elements involved in it.

It was decided that additional registrars of the respective PHC circuit benches and regional police officers would devise a strategy for planning and tackling the issue of judges’ security. PHC CJ Ishtiaq Ibrahim told the officials concerned that it was their prime duty to provide foolproof security to the judges as they played an important role in dispensing justice to the people.

“The judges would not be able to dispense justice to the people if they face security challenges,” he said, adding that a fear-free and conducive environment must be provided to the judicial officers to ensure a fair justice system in the province.

The meeting praised the bravery of the police and offered fateha for the martyred cops. The PHC CJ and judges announced Rs1.5 million for each martyred cop, Rs0.2 million for each injured and Rs0.1 million for each cop in the squad.

Earlier, CS, ACS and IGP informed the meeting about the progress made so far in the recent incident in Tank. They said the situation in the southern districts was volatile but had out an assurance of proper security to be provided to the judges.