Justice on hold: Courts boycotted across Hazara

Both Assistant Commissioner (AC) Muhammad Ali Asghar and court staff member, Mushtaq, were injured.


Our Correspondent April 03, 2014
Both Assistant Commissioner (AC) Muhammad Ali Asghar and court staff member, Mushtaq, were injured. PHOTO: FILE

ABBOTABAD:


As promised by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) bar council, court proceedings across Hazara division remained suspended all day on Wednesday. Lawyers and judges observed a complete strike to show solidarity as officers of the courts, in response to a brawl between a civil judge and an assistant commissioner in Balakot.


Both Assistant Commissioner (AC) Muhammad Ali Asghar and court staff member, Mushtaq, were injured. While a criminal case was filed against the judge and his staff involved in the fight, an FIR has not been filed against the AC, despite Mushtaq’s court application.

On Tuesday, the AC stated in a police report that he learned Civil Judge Islamud Din Khan was having sheds erected on land belonging to the municipal committee without permission. He said when he and his team asked the judge and his staff to stop, they were assaulted.

On his complaint, the police registered a criminal case against the judge. Meanwhile, president of the tehsil bar council Hameedul Haq Awaisi said the judge was monitoring the construction of a parking lot at the court premises, which was a longstanding demand of the legal fraternity. Awaisi said while the judge was inspecting the construction, the AC and his staff reached the site and started abusing him and thrashing the judge and his colleagues.

Following the scuffle, Balakot police registered a criminal case against the judge and his staff members, who had obtained bail before arrest from the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge the same day.

Mushtaq filed an application in Khan’s court to register a criminal case. The ADJ ordered police to register an FIR against the AC and his accomplices for the attack, but according to SHO Balakot no such case has been filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3rd, 2014.

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