Courts on high alert post bomb threat
Lawyers and judges stay away after warning of attack before end of month.
LAHORE:
Lawyers and judges stayed away from Aiwan-i-Adl on Monday after the district and sessions judge received a letter threatening a suicide bombing at the courts before the end of this month, The Express Tribune has learnt.
A source at the courts complex said that the six-line letter, written in Urdu, threatened the attack between June 27 and June 30 if the judges did not stop holding meetings concerning a certain subject. It wasn’t clear what that subject was. The letter came with the name and address of the sender.
District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqime Ahmed said that he had instructed judges to postpone cases which attracted large crowds to the courtrooms. He said that all necessary measures would be taken to prevent a terrorist attack.
Monday’s threat was the latest of several recent incidents that has deepened concerns among the legal professions about security at their workplaces. Many lawyers and judges decided it was safer to stay at home and work was affected at all the city’s courts, but especially at Aiwan-i-Adl.
Some additional district and sessions judges did not enter their courtrooms at the Sessions Court complex, but no cases were heard at Aiwan-i-Adl. While the judges could stay away, their staff had to sit in the courtrooms attending to their duties.
Police guards deployed at the courts became much more thorough in their security checks, though no extra personnel were deployed. The crowd of litigants was far smaller than on normal working days.
Talking to The Express Tribune, some lawyers said that the letter’s sender may have taken offence at an event at Aiwan-i-Adl almost two weeks ago celebrating the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali (RA). They said that religious activities should not be allowed because of their sensitivity. They said that they had voiced their concerns to Lahore Bar Association President Shehzad Hassan Sheikh, but he had ignored them. Sheikh was not available for comment.
Other lawyers suggested that the threat came from someone upset about blasphemy cases. They said one case was being followed by clerics who had threatened the lawyers representing the blasphemy accused. They said that the threat to Aiwan-i-Adl could be a distraction and the Sessions Court the real target.
The court staffers, meanwhile, were upset that they had to sit in the courtrooms while the judges could choose not to.
“My judge is a bachelor while I have six children. Why is his life more important than mine?” said a clerk.
Lahore Bar Association general secretary Farhad Ali Shah said that the Punjab government had ignored their complaints about security concerns at the courts. He said that the bar had written to the home secretary, the district coordination officer, and other authorities seeking extra security including bomb-disposal teams and fire fighters at Aiwan-i-Adl till June 30.
There has been a rash of violent incidents at the city’s courts within the last month. Two brothers appearing as defendants in a murder trial were shot dead inside a courtroom at the Sessions Court on May 28, prompting a strike until extra security measures were taken. On June 11, some lawyers thrashed a guard for frisking them at the entrance to Aiwan-i-Adl. On June 18, a judicial magistrate scrambled for safety into his bathroom when he was charged by under-trial prisoners carrying razor blades at the District Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.
Lawyers and judges stayed away from Aiwan-i-Adl on Monday after the district and sessions judge received a letter threatening a suicide bombing at the courts before the end of this month, The Express Tribune has learnt.
A source at the courts complex said that the six-line letter, written in Urdu, threatened the attack between June 27 and June 30 if the judges did not stop holding meetings concerning a certain subject. It wasn’t clear what that subject was. The letter came with the name and address of the sender.
District and Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqime Ahmed said that he had instructed judges to postpone cases which attracted large crowds to the courtrooms. He said that all necessary measures would be taken to prevent a terrorist attack.
Monday’s threat was the latest of several recent incidents that has deepened concerns among the legal professions about security at their workplaces. Many lawyers and judges decided it was safer to stay at home and work was affected at all the city’s courts, but especially at Aiwan-i-Adl.
Some additional district and sessions judges did not enter their courtrooms at the Sessions Court complex, but no cases were heard at Aiwan-i-Adl. While the judges could stay away, their staff had to sit in the courtrooms attending to their duties.
Police guards deployed at the courts became much more thorough in their security checks, though no extra personnel were deployed. The crowd of litigants was far smaller than on normal working days.
Talking to The Express Tribune, some lawyers said that the letter’s sender may have taken offence at an event at Aiwan-i-Adl almost two weeks ago celebrating the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali (RA). They said that religious activities should not be allowed because of their sensitivity. They said that they had voiced their concerns to Lahore Bar Association President Shehzad Hassan Sheikh, but he had ignored them. Sheikh was not available for comment.
Other lawyers suggested that the threat came from someone upset about blasphemy cases. They said one case was being followed by clerics who had threatened the lawyers representing the blasphemy accused. They said that the threat to Aiwan-i-Adl could be a distraction and the Sessions Court the real target.
The court staffers, meanwhile, were upset that they had to sit in the courtrooms while the judges could choose not to.
“My judge is a bachelor while I have six children. Why is his life more important than mine?” said a clerk.
Lahore Bar Association general secretary Farhad Ali Shah said that the Punjab government had ignored their complaints about security concerns at the courts. He said that the bar had written to the home secretary, the district coordination officer, and other authorities seeking extra security including bomb-disposal teams and fire fighters at Aiwan-i-Adl till June 30.
There has been a rash of violent incidents at the city’s courts within the last month. Two brothers appearing as defendants in a murder trial were shot dead inside a courtroom at the Sessions Court on May 28, prompting a strike until extra security measures were taken. On June 11, some lawyers thrashed a guard for frisking them at the entrance to Aiwan-i-Adl. On June 18, a judicial magistrate scrambled for safety into his bathroom when he was charged by under-trial prisoners carrying razor blades at the District Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2011.