New anti-drug court awaits proceedings

RAWALPINDI:

The Special Anti-Narcotics Court-II has been set up in Rawalpindi to facilitate quick hearings of the increasing number of anti-drug cases. However, legal hurdles have prevented the court from coming into session even after a month since its establishment.

Judge Khalid Bashir Cheema was appointed to the court a month ago, but he has not been assigned a courtroom even now. This has meant that the newly established court has not come into session and drug cases continue to pile up while disposal decisions have come to a halt. The appointed judge reportedly comes to court every day and sits chatting and eating in a fellow judge's chamber all day long, returning home in the evening without hearing any cases.

More than 600 drug cases are under trial in the Rawalpindi court. The Islamabad special anti-drug court set up the special court on the M-1 motorway. All drug cases from the area have been transferred from Islamabad to Rawalpindi. The arrival of 400 such cases in Rawalpindi, has increased the total number of cases to 1,000.

Cases of Rawalpindi Anti-Narcotics Force Police Station and Dina Police Station have been allotted to Court-II. Cases of Attock Police Station have also been allotted to Court-II. Due to the non-functioning of Court-II, the cases of both police stations have completely stalled.

Rawalpindi District Bar Association President Tariq Mahmood Sajid Awan and senior criminal lawyer Shanzeb Khan have requested the Chief Justice Lahore High Court to immediately allocate a courtroom to the judge of Anti-Narcotics Court-II so that he can start the trial of cases. Due to the overflow of cases, daily record cases are being assigned in Special Anti-Narcotics Court-II.