KARACHI, Feb 1: The Pakistan Peoples Party has deplored the induction of serving military officers as judges in the reconstituted anti-terrorism courts and said it would open floodgates of corruption and fear in the Judiciary.

The situation was far worse than the establishment of the military courts, which had been struck down by the Supreme Court as an attempt to establish parallel judiciary during the Nawaz Sharif era, said the PPP information secretary Taj Haider.

“This is clearly an attempt to pollute the existing judicial set up and is most likely to be followed up by the appointment of senior ranking officers in the superior judiciary of the country”, he said.

“How can there be a semblance of justice if the judges are answerable to a person who has usurped power through extra-constitutional measures,” he said.

As far as being answerable to one’s own conscience was concerned, he said, that chapter had already been closed when the army high command violated its constitutional oath of not interfering in politics and felt proud to do so.

He said that today Pakistan was a subjugated country and unless the will of the people was allowed to be expressed freely, through free and fair elections, this situation could not be reversed.