PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has decided to temporarily shift courts of Tank and South Waziristan districts to the adjoining Dera Ismail Khan district due to ‘precarious’ security situation in the region.

Official sources said that the decision was taken by PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and senior judges after taking stock of the law and order situation in those districts.

Sources said that the judicial officers including district and sessions judges, additional district and sessions judges and civil judges, had been directed to shift to DI Khan and perform their judicial functions from there.

The para-legal staff of these courts have also been directed to shift to DI Khan.

The judicial officers have been informed that they would return to their respective districts once the security situation improved in the two districts.

Presently, seven judicial officers have been posted in Tank including a district judge, additional district judge and five civil judges. Similarly, four officers including a district judge, an additional district judge and two civil judges, have been posted in South Waziristan.

It is pertinent to mention here that early in August three judges going in a convoy from Tank to DI Khan had narrowly escaped a militant gun attack, which left two policemen martyred.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2024