Security threats: Commandos deployed at Sindh High Court
Level of threat is very alarming, say security officials.
KARACHI:
It was an unusual sight on Tuesday in the corridors of the Sindh High Court. There were security personnel wearing helmets, black goggles and bullet-proof jackets, with their fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons.
The presence of terrorist-fighting commandos is going to be a routine affair at the high court amid rising threats to the life and security of the members of the bench.
For the second day on Tuesday, police officers tasked with providing security, were seen reviewing their arrangements to ensure that there was no gap in the security net.
The threats are still pouring in, an official of the high court told The Express Tribune, adding that if this “threat game” is allowed to continue, judges would not be able to work.
The security officials also confirmed that the “level of threat” was very alarming. “We are taking every threat as a potential one and are not ready to leave any room for a terrorist intending to cause harm to any judge and thus scaring them away from the dispensation of justice,” said a security official.
The latest threats were conveyed after a man arrested in high-profile sectarian killing cases of noted scholars was given the benefit of doubt.
In fact, the accused was found severely tortured when he was presented before the then administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts, Justice Maqbool Baqar. He had a disability in his right hand finger and palm and thus the use of a weapon by him as alleged by the prosecution was considered unbelievable by the ATC judge.
The orders passed in some other cases are also believed to have earned the ire of a particular sect, said a source previously related to the ATC Registrar at high court.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2012.
It was an unusual sight on Tuesday in the corridors of the Sindh High Court. There were security personnel wearing helmets, black goggles and bullet-proof jackets, with their fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons.
The presence of terrorist-fighting commandos is going to be a routine affair at the high court amid rising threats to the life and security of the members of the bench.
For the second day on Tuesday, police officers tasked with providing security, were seen reviewing their arrangements to ensure that there was no gap in the security net.
The threats are still pouring in, an official of the high court told The Express Tribune, adding that if this “threat game” is allowed to continue, judges would not be able to work.
The security officials also confirmed that the “level of threat” was very alarming. “We are taking every threat as a potential one and are not ready to leave any room for a terrorist intending to cause harm to any judge and thus scaring them away from the dispensation of justice,” said a security official.
The latest threats were conveyed after a man arrested in high-profile sectarian killing cases of noted scholars was given the benefit of doubt.
In fact, the accused was found severely tortured when he was presented before the then administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Courts, Justice Maqbool Baqar. He had a disability in his right hand finger and palm and thus the use of a weapon by him as alleged by the prosecution was considered unbelievable by the ATC judge.
The orders passed in some other cases are also believed to have earned the ire of a particular sect, said a source previously related to the ATC Registrar at high court.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2012.