PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council on Tuesday expressed reservation over the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s (JCP) decision to ‘unilaterally’ transfer an Islamabad High Court judge to Peshawar High Court.

Participants of a meeting of the KPBC executive committee, chaired by its chairman Malik Imad Azam, said that transfer of a judge from any other high court to the PHC should be made on reciprocal basis and should only be made with simultaneous transfer of a judge from the PHC.

They said that the reciprocal transfer of judges would neither affect the overall strength of the PHC judges nor would it affect the rights of the province.

The participants urged the JCP to appoint a judge from the Islamabad High Court from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure representation of the province in that court.

They warned that the bar council would fully resist any unconstitutional move by the JCP which would affect the rights of this province as well as the PHC.

The participants also said that if their demands were ignored, lawyers would begin a protest movement in the province.

The decision of the executive committee meeting was released prior to the JCP meeting that decided to transfer three IHC judges to other high courts, including the transfer of Justice Babar Sattar to the PHC.

Currently, the PHC has 20 judges, including Chief Justice SM Attique Shah, functioning against the sanctioned strength of 30 judges. Once notification is issued for the transfer of Justice Sattar, the PHC strength will rise to 21.

Out of the 20 judges, four have been functioning on an additional basis.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026