KARACHI: Of the over 2,700 cases pending disposal before the 19 antiterrorism courts across the province, 192 cases of bomb blasts and militant attacks by proscribed organisations have been prioritised for hearing on a day-to-day basis as provided under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997, it emerged on Saturday.

Official sources told Dawn that Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali of the Supreme Court, who is also the monitoring judge of the ATCs in Sindh, chaired a meeting on Saturday that was informed of bifurcation of cases into “militancy-related” and “others” by the ATCs.

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The meeting was attended by nine judges of the ATCs in Karachi, judges in charge of the Sindh High Court for the ATCs Justices Munib Akhtar and Mohammed Ali Mazhar, member inspection team-II Judge Abdullah Channa, the home and finance secretaries and an additional inspector general of police.

The sources said that the performance of the ATCs in the province was reviewed at length and Justice Jamali expressed his satisfaction over the efficiency of the judges.

Nonetheless, they said, he directed the presiding officers to further improve their performance without any fear in view of the current wave of terrorism in the country.

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They said some of the ATC judges complained to Justice Jamali that the investigation officers (IOs) often failed to produce prosecution witness in court.

The sources said that home and police authorities were directed by the monitoring judge to ensure production of accused persons, prosecution witnesses, case properties and IOs in the ATCs.

They said Justice Jamali asked the ATC judges to summon only those prosecution witnesses whose testimonies were required to be recorded.

The sources said that Justice Jamali also directed the provincial authorities to ensure foolproof security for the presiding officers of the ATCs, prosecutors, prosecution witnesses and the IOs appearing in the militancy-related cases.

They said the provincial finance secretary informed the meeting that 450 new mobile vans were being given to the police department. He said that some of them would be given for the security of the judges and prosecutors.

The sources said that the judges in charge of the SHC were also directed to hold monthly meetings with the presiding officers of the ATCs for the monitoring of the courts.

The provincial police were also directed to ensure the presence of IOs and witnesses for prosecution in the ATCs during trials.

The sources said that the provincial authorities were directed to immediately provide infrastructural facilities for all ATCs in the province.

An extraordinary meeting of chief justices of all the high courts, chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Nasir-ul-Mulk, had decided that the cases related to terrorism would be given priority and heard on a day-to-day basis, as provided under the ATA, 1997.

The meeting of superior court chief justices was called by the CJP on Dec 19, 2014 in Islamabad to take stock of cases pending before ATCs and discuss different strategies for the expeditious disposal of pending cases with different courts in the country.

The meeting had also tasked the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) Secretariat to review ATA and formulate recommendations for improvement or amendments in the law.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2015

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