Zubair Qureshi
On the orders of Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Justice Athar Minallah, Special Assistant to PM (SAPM) on Information & Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan along with the office-bearers of the Islamabad District Bar visited district courts in the Sector F-8/4 on Friday and witnessed court proceedings and the poor working and civic conditions there.
The lower judiciary of the federal capital is working in an old rented building that is in a shambles and the judges and other staff of the court are forced to work in small rooms without proper space or lighting.
According to senior lawyer of the District Bar, Advocate Khalid Chaudhry in total, there are 101 courts divided in East & West of Islamabad functioning in the district court complex.
The building houses two courts of the District & Session Judges, 30 additional session courts (both East & West), six senior civil judges and 50 civil judges. These courts are without proper security system and the building in which they are working is old and rickety, he said.
In the past a number of incidents have taken place here including a terrorist attack on the District courts on March 3, 2014 in which an additional district and session judge and a number of lawyers and clerks of the court were killed.
After visiting the district courts and seeing the working conditions under which judges had to work, SAPM Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said she was shocked to see absence of facilities for the litigants and poor working conditions in which judges had to work.
This also reminds us of the negligence and indifference past governments had observed towards the courts and judiciary and “I assure you that I shall take up the matter with the Prime Minister and our government would do all it could to improve the situation,” she said.
Special Assistant to the PM earlier appeared before the Islamabad High Court in a contempt notice for ‘maligning’ judiciary and passing comments on bail granted to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the IHC. On October 26, after the court granted ex-PM Sharif bail until Oct 29 in an urgent case hearing that lasted till evening, SAPM at a press conference had said the government would like to see such speedy trials for all under-trial prisoners and in all cases.
Islamabad High Court had issued the SAPM a show cause notice for that statement and directed her to appear before the court on Friday.
As she appeared before the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday, she tendered unconditional apology saying she had never intended to commit contempt of court.
The court though accepted her apology, yet issued her a fresh contempt of court notice for making a statement regarding a pending criminal proceeding.
