PESHAWAR, May 21: A bomb hoax created panic at the Peshawar High Court and the subordinate courts on Monday. As a result, hearings in hundreds of cases had to be put off.

The high court building was evacuated by the law-enforcement agencies for a search for “two suicide bombers” about whom the court officials had received an anonymous telephone call.

Later on, rumours about the “bombers” also reached the Civil Secretariat — situated in close proximity of the high court building — after which most officials evacuated their offices.

Until the filing of this report the local police were trying to trace out the subscriber of a cellular phone number from which the call was made to the high court.

It is learnt that the call was received at about 10.15am by the secretary to the registrar. The caller claimed that two suicide bombers had entered the high court building from the Nishtar Hall side. Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan was immediately informed, who ordered the putting off of hearings in all the cases.

Soon afterwards the police high-ups and officials of the bomb disposal squad reached the building which was vacated. People hurriedly went out of the high court and gathered on the road.

The rumour soon reached the district and sessions courts where work was stopped and people started moving out of the various courtrooms.

Following the incident, security was beefed up in all the courts, especially the high court. At a meeting in the high court it was decided that metal detectors and closed circuit cameras be installed. It was decided that the number of police officials be also increased.

“It was only a hoax and the law-enforcement agencies have cleared the high court building,” registrar of the court, Musaddiq Hussain Gillani, told journalists. He pointed out that a bomb hoax also too place recently at the Sindh High Court.

He said that in the wake of the deteriorating law and order situation in the province, security had been heightened at various court buildings.

PHC Bar Association president Abdul Lateef Afridi said that due to the unwise policies of the government there was no security for the life and property of citizens.

He told journalists that on the one hand the government had not been taking action against some militants in the Lal Masjid issue on the pretext of negotiations but on the other innocent people were being killed in the tribal areas.

Security was beefed up after a string of blasts in different cities. Following the Monday’s bomb hoax the security personnel have now been checking every visitor at the main entrance of the courts.