February 20, 2008	Wednesday	Safar 12, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: With a suggestion to focus attention on weaker segments of society, Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar on Tuesday opened the Islamabad High Court to finally commence function with an inherited backlog of over 9,000 cases.

“I would call upon the stakeholders of the justice system to focus their attention on the cases of weaker segments of the society like women, widows, orphans, condemned prisoners and other deserving persons,” the chief justice observed at the inaugural ceremony also attended by judges of the Supreme Court, Lahore High Court as well as the Islamabad High Court, caretaker Law Minister Syed Afzal Haider, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum and members of the district judiciary.

Through an executive order on the eve of lifting the emergency, President Pervez Musharraf had introduced six amendments to the constitution that included establishment of the Islamabad High Court to meet the long-standing demand of lawyers of the capital city.

Later, the president appointed Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam as chief justice and Justices Munir Ahmed Piracha, Dr Sajid Qureshi, Raja Saeed Akram and Syed Kalb-i-Hassan as judges of the IHC.