Courts sans judges delay justice

Due to the non-availability of judges in the three special courts of the Rawalpindi Division for a long time, the hearings of a total of 225 significant and high-profile cases including the General Headquarters (GHQ) attack case, nine cases pertaining to the May 9 riots, terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, recovery of explosives and human trafficking, are facing excessive delays.

Among these judges-deprived courts across the division are the Special Anti-Terrorism Court, the Special Judge Central, FIA and the Special Anti-Corruption Court. The judges of the three courts were transferred on the same day, however, no new judges were appointed in their place.

At least 55 cases of terrorism and heinous crimes, including the GHQ attack case, are pending in the Special Anti-Terrorism Court, 102 cases in the Special Anti-Corruption Court and 68 cases of cybercrime and human trafficking are pending in the Special Court of FIA.

Due to the non-availability of judges in these courts, the hearings of all these are not taking place.

Judicial sources said the appointment of new judges in these three most important courts is expected at the beginning of the next month, for which the legal process has been started.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2023.