ISLAMABAD: The president of Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA), Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, has urged the Supreme Court to immediately transfer some of the judges out of the F-8 district courts because their personal enmities could potentially be a security risk.

“There are certain judges who have personal enmities, a factor that will cause security issues, therefore, all such judges should be immediately transferred,” Mohsin Kayani emphasised, in a concise statement he submitted before the Supreme Court.

The submissions were placed before a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, that had taken a suo motu notice of the F-8 courts incident, in which 11 people were killed.

During the last hearing on April 7, the Supreme Court had asked Mohsin Kayani to go through the confidential report submitted by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, the head of a commission probing the district court attacks on March 3.

After reading the report, Mohsin Kayani submitted a concise statement before the apex court, suggesting disaster management and weapon trainings to all judges and lawyers.

He also suggested issuing weapon licences to them.

The court, however, opposed the idea of providing weapon licences, and postponed further proceedings till April 15, with a direction to re-submit the concise statement after due consideration.

In his statement, Mohsin Kayani also asked for the registration of criminal cases against the police officials who were inefficient in providing security.

This suggestion is also part of the recommendation suggested by Justice Siddiqui in his report which has not seen the light of day as yet.

One of the recommendations by Mohsin Kayani asked to allow the IHCBA to register criminal cases against 44 police officials, who had not performed their statutory duty on March 3; whereas the others suggested rewarding two jawans of anti-terrorist squad (ATS) – Babar Ali and Noor Nawaz – who were the only ones to resist the attackers.

It has been suggested to promote them and give them Rs5 million each.

He also suggested that the police officials, posted in the district and high court premises, should also be appointed after due training, including weapon training, while their weapons should be verified on monthly basis.

The statement further said the districts courts should not be shifted from F-8 Markaz to any other place on temporary basis. But they should be shifted, eventually, to G-11/1 and G-10/1 after construction work on the buildings has been completed.

The lawyers’ chambers should also be constructed on the same premises, for which the allocations should be made in the public sector development plan (PSDP).

The construction of Islamabad High Court (IHC) building, currently housed in the judicial complex meant for the district courts, should commence immediately on Constitution Avenue, the statement said.

Referring to the future security measures, the suggestions asked for appointing a separate security in charge to manage security of the courts.

This in charge should be directly responsible for all measures and collaborate with the respective session judge and bar association.

Also, the F-8 courts should be under complete surveillance. Security gates should be monitored all the times and every individual should be searched as a standard operating procedure, Kayani suggested.

These security measures should be controlled and managed by the district administration, in collaboration with the bar associations.

Mohsin Kayani also suggested that Justice Siddiqui’s report should be made public for future references.