Riskiest of them all: City courts most vulnerable

SHC CJ instructed officials to ensure at least 2 Rangers mobiles are permanently stationed at city, district courts.

KARACHI:

Inadequate security arrangements at the city courts - one of the most sensitive areas of the city where judges, court staffers, lawyers, thousands of litigants, under-trial prisoners and their families come daily - have put thousands of lives at stake.

SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqir in a meeting held on Monday instructed officials to ensure that at least two Rangers security mobiles are permanently stationed at the city courts and Malir district courts - the two places more vulnerable in terms of security and safety of judges, the staff, lawyers and litigants. While there is room for improvement at the security at Malir courts, it is still better off than city courts. Despite the fact that under-trial prisoners in the past have managed to escape from the court’s premises, almost every gate of the city courts is open to the public and some of the gates are unguarded due to the shortage of police, and in some cases, due to sheer laziness.

A large number of beggars are regularly seen swarming around the courts while vendors selling juice, cold drinks and other items have given the courts the look of a busy downtown area.

Just recently, a man carrying a pistol managed to enter the court premises due to the ill-equipped security arrangements. In another incident, a bomb went off inside the Malkhana of the city courts.

Strict monitoring of people’s movement by increasing the number of policemen, raising the surrounding walls, installing walkthrough gates and surveillance cameras at the entry and exit points - as done in the Anti-Terrorism Courts which were relatively more secure - could make a huge difference in improving security at city courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2014.