PESHAWAR, Nov 26: About 2,000 Shariat petitions have been pending before the Federal Shariat Court for years and there appears no possibility of their early disposal because seven of eight posts of judges in the court are lying vacant.

Official sources said that apart from the Shariat petitions, about 2,300 criminal appeals are also pending before the court. The appeals are mostly filed by people convicted under Hudood ordinances. Some of the appeals have been pending for six years, an official said.

Under Article 203C, sub-clause 2 of the Constitution, the court should not have more than eight Muslim judges, including the chief justice to be appointed by the president. Only the shariat court is empowered to hear appeals in cases registered under Hudood laws.

Lawyers of the Shariat court said that Chief Justice Haziqul Khairi is the only judge presently working in the court, who had been appointed by the president in June.Four judges – Justice Zafar Iqbal Pasha Chaudhry, Justice Saeedur Rehman Farrukh, Justice S. A. Manan and Justice S. A. Rabbani retired in June. The term of another judge, Justice Dr Fida Mohammad Khan, expired recently.

Under Article 203D of the Constitution, the Shariat court can examine and decide the question whether or not any law or provision of law is repugnant to injunctions of Islam. Some lawyers said the petitions pending before the court include those challenging Qisas and Diyat law and Riba and Hudood ordinances.

It is learnt that many prisoners on death row, including juveniles and women, have been awaiting the outcome of their appeals for many years.

Under the Federal Shariat Court rules, a Shariat petition can only be heard by a bench of three or more judges. Similarly, appeals against verdicts of sessions courts in cases of capital punishment and amputation of limbs can be heard by a bench consisting of not less than three judges.

Even when six judges were functioning in the court, a large number of petitions were pending, said Voice of Prisoners chairman Noor Alam Khan.

He said that after the posts

of judges were filled, Chief Justice Khairi should adopt measures for early disposal of the pending cases. Successive governments had been least interested in filling the posts, he regretted.