MARDAN, Oct 15: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Monday said conspiracies were being hatched against the judiciary to stop it from ensuring the rule of law in the country.

Addressing judicial officers and Mardan District Bar Association office-bearers during a function here at Pakhtunkhwa House, the CJ said the judiciary had no specific agenda to follow and rather it wanted to see the rule of law in the country.

He praised lawyers for resisting former military ruler Pervez Musharraf when he suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and other judges in 2007.

Justice Dost Mohammad said lawyers were subjected to violence but they didn’t abandon the movement for restoration of judges, including the chief justice of Pakistan, during the military rule of Pervez Musharraf.

He said Musharraf had fled the country and was unlikely to return.

The chief justice said collective efforts were needed to implement the rule of law in the country and that a bad democratic system was far better than a good dictatorship.

He said the judiciary had committed a mistake in the case of Maulvi Tameezuddin and the situation would have been different had it not committed that mistake.

Justice Dost Mohammad said the country’s judiciary had secured independence after a great struggle and rendering a lot of sacrifices and it had a golden chance to take advantage from it for ensuring the rule of law in the country.

He warned that there would ‘great destruction’ in the country if the chance went to waste.

The CJ said the US-led western countries had miserably failed in Afghanistan despite having latest, modern weapons and ammunition and that many of them were planning to leave the restive country without achieving targets.

He asked lawyers and journalists to be alert for thwarting conspiracies against the judiciary.

Justice Dost Mohammad said the role of media was very important as it performed very active role in the lawyers’ movement for restoration of judges.

The CJ told participants said PC-1 of the establishment of a modern judicial complex in Mardan had been prepared and Rs6 million would be spent on the project in the first phase after its approval.

On the demand of lawyers, he announced establishment of the high court’s registry branch in Mardan city, saying it would begin operations today (Tuesday).

The CJ also directed the revenue department to address shortage of stamp papers in the city within a week.