Govt ordered to provide new ATCs with workers, other facilities by June 15

SC monitoring judge on ATCs meets govt officials to discuss delays in set-up of new courts.

KARACHI:

The provincial government has been directed to provide workers and other required facilities to the five newly established anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) in Karachi.

These directions were issued by the Supreme Court monitoring judge on the ATCs, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali who held a meeting at the SC registry to review the performance of the ATCs in the province. Sources told The Express Tribune that the apex court’s monitoring judge was dissatisfied with the conviction rates of the ATCs in Sindh. He looked into the causes and explored means to raise the conviction rates up to the mark.

He was also concerned why the government had failed to provide staff to the five new ATCs in Karachi, which could not function months after their establishment. The home and finance secretaries were directed to provide all the required facilities to the new courts by June 15.

The second issue was the delay in the trials at the ATCs due to the failure of the prosecution to produce witnesses. The meeting was informed that the trials were also suffering as several suspects have been moved from Karachi to other districts in the province and cannot be presented at their trials in the city.

At the meeting, Legal AIG Ali Sher Jakhrani was appointed the coordinator to bridge the gaps between the courts and the prosecution to ensure timely production of the prosecution witnesses before the ATCs so that the trial could be expedited and concluded within the timeframe fixed under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The home secretary was directed to frame rules by June 15 under the recently witness protection law to provide security to witnesses. Sources said that the monitoring judge demanded more security for the witnesses, especially those who are threatened.

The meeting was attended by the judges of the ATCs in Karachi, Sindh High Court (SHC) incharge judges — justices Munib Akhtar and Mohammad Ali Mazhar — the finance secretary, the home secretary, the prosecutor-general, SHC member inspection team-II Abdullah Channa and AIG Jakhrani.

Meanwhile, a separate meeting of the judges of the ATCs across the province was also held at the SHC premises in which Justice Mazhar urged the judges to ensure expeditious trials to raise the conviction rates.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2014.