PESHAWAR: On the directive of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Peshawar High Court’s chief justice has ordered constitution of a commission comprising Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan to probe the 2014 Army Public School carnage in which over 140 people, mostly students, were martyred in Peshawar.

A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had on Oct 5 ordered the formation of an inquiry commission comprising a Peshawar High Court judge to probe the incident.

A notification was issued by the PHC’s registrar Khwaja Wajihuddin, which stated: “Whereas, the august Supreme Court of Pakistan, while hearing Human Rights Case No 18200-K of 2018 in the matter regarding martyrs of APS, Peshawar, has passed the order Dated: 05.10. 2018 for constitution of the commission comprising a Senior Judge of the Peshawar High Court, Peshawar, who shall conduct a thorough probe into the matter as per the grievance of the complainants which (commission) shall submit a report within six weeks from the date of order i.e. 05.10.2018.”

It added that Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan was appointed as commission for the stated purpose.

Justice Ibrahim Khan was elevated to the high court as additional judge on Aug 11, 2016, and was subsequently confirmed as a judge of the high court on Jun 1, 2018.

He had joined the judiciary as additional district and sessions judge in Nov 1993. Before his elevation, he served against several important judicial posts and remained district and sessions judge in different districts. He has also served as accountability court judge in Peshawar.

The APS incident left 144 persons, including 122 students martyred.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken notice of the issue in April this year when during his visit to Peshawar several parents of the de­­ceased students had app­roached him and requested him to redress their grievances.

Subsequently, on May 9, a SC bench headed by the Chief Justice issued verbal orders for conducting an inquiry into the occurrence through a judicial commission comprising a judge of the PHC. However, as no written order was communicated to the high court, therefore, the commission could not be constituted.

On Oct 5, the apex court again took up for hearing that case and issued a written order for formation of the commission.

The prime grievance of the complainants is to hold the officers concerned res­ponsible for negligence as they did not respond to the threat alert prior to the incident.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018