PESHAWAR/MANSEHRA: On the call of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, lawyers on Monday boycotted courts in their respective areas of the province to voice objections to the existing mechanism for appointment of civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates.

The protesters said they were opposed to induction of inexperienced and fresh law graduates as judges in lower courts and said their protest would continue until at least three years legal practice was declared a must for such appointments.

In Peshawar, the KPBC office-bearers met and made several demands for appointment of civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates.

KPBC Vice Chairman Amjid Shah and Executive Committee Chairman Arshad Awan later told reporters that the council had demanded of the high court to make it mandatory for applicants of civil judge posts to have at least three years legal practice.

They said the council also wanted distribution of 77 seats of judges to different zones in accordance with their respective populations.

The council office-bearers said the participants agreed that experience was necessary for those wanting to be civil judges and therefore, the high court should declare at least three years experience a must for them.

Last month, the Peshawar High Court Bar Association and Peshawar District Bar Association had expressed reservations about the civil judge appointment mechanism.

However, PHC Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and other court officials met senior lawyers and told them that a foolproof mechanism had been in place to appoint competent candidates as judges.

The office-bearers of the bar council said the judiciary had assumed an important role in the society and therefore, judges should be appointed in a transparent manner and on merit.

They suggested that a member of the council be included in the appointment process to ensure transparency.

When asked members of bar councils in Sindh and Punjab were not included in the recruitment process, the bar council office-bearers said their only objective of the demand was to ensure that merit was not violated.

They said the bar council had so far issued licences to 8,600 lawyers across the province to practice law.

In Mansehra, Balakot, Oghi, Battagram and Kohistan, too, lawyers on Monday boycotted courts against the existing mechanism to appoint civil judges-cum-judicial magistrates.

The protesters said civil judges should have at least three years experience as lawyer.

They said the matter was taken up by KPBC with Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court but he turned down the suggestions, so the lawyers were left with no choice but to agitate.