PESHAWAR, June 30: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday declared Musaddiq Hussain Gillani and Shaiber Khan as best district and sessions judge and additional district and sessions judge respectively for the period of July to Dec 2003.

In accordance with the incentive and reward policy, Mr Gillani and Mr Khan were given rewards of Rs10,000 and Rs9,500 respectively. The high court also rewarded 30 judicial officers from civil judges up to district and sessions judges level and they have been given cash prizes ranging from Rs2,000 to Rs10,000.

Muneera Ashraf Abbasi posted at Peshawar was declared best senior civil judge, whereas Safiullah Jan posted at Bannu was declared best civil judge. According to a PHC press release, Chief Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and members of inspection team of the high court had conducted inspections of all the courts throughout the province for assessment of their performance, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Other district and sessions judges who were rewarded include Mohammad Ibraheem Khan (Nowshera), Jehangir Khan (Mansehra), Shamsher Ali Khan (Timergarah) and Hayat Ali Shah (Peshawar).

The additional district and sessions judges: Zafar Iqbal (Charssada), Sardar Mohammad Irshad (Peshawar), Mrs Zarqaish Sani (DI Khan), Anwar Ali Khan (Kohat), Mohammad Younas (Peshawar), Faqirur Rehman Jadoon (Charssada) and Abdur Rauf Khan (Mansehra) have also been rewarded.

Anwer Ali Khan, a judge who attained fame in 2002 in the famous Zafran Bibi case, when he convicted her and sentenced her to death by stoning. The said judgment had drawn worldwide criticism and finally the Federal Shariat Court had set aside the conviction and acquitted Zafran Bibi was also rewarded.

The senior civil judges who were given rewards include Syed Aqeel Ajiz (D.I.Khan), Mohammad Zeb Khan (Bannu), Mohammad Asif Khan (Haripur) and Rauf Khattak (Swabi).

The outstanding civil judges include Wali Mohammad Khan (Kohat), Asif Rashid (Kohat), Ms Kulsoom Azam (Peshawar), Mohammad Azam Khan (Charssada), Asad Hameed Bangash (Peshawar), Ms Rozina Rehman (Nowshera), Ms Alia Sadia Lodhi (Mansehra), Ms Zeba Rasheed (Mansehra), Wiqar Ahmad Khan (Abbotabad), Tahir Mehmood Khan (Haripur) and Aamir Nazir Bhatti (Mansehra).