18 February 2004	Wednesday	26 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Feb 17: Additional district and sessions judge Khwaja Wajihuddin issued non-bailable arrest warrants on Tuesday of about 50 police officers and four doctors of the Khyber Medical College (KMC) after their failure to appear before the court in different cases.

The concerned police officers, including 11 SHOs, have not been appearing before the court despite repeated notices. These officers are prosecution witnesses in criminal cases, including murders, drug trafficking, adultery, theft, etc., but have not been appearing for recording their evidence.

Due to their continuous absence various cases have been lingering on before the trial court for the last many years. Without recording their evidence, it is difficult for the trial court to continue with the trials.

The additional district and sessions judge, Khwaja Wajihuddin, took exception to this attitude of the police officers and KMC employees, observing that the non-compliance of the court orders amounted to contempt of the court. The judge directed that these officers should be arrested and produced before the court on next hearing.

It merits a mention that besides the district and sessions judge, 13 additional district and sessions judges have been functioning in Peshawar and almost all of them have been facing the problem of attendance of prosecution witnesses, mostly police officers. Trials in criminal cases could not be concluded due to this problem.

From time to time different judges have been issuing non-bailable arrest warrants of the concerned police officers and in different cases their salaries have also been attached. However, this problem has not yet been resolved.