PESHAWAR, Nov 2: The Peshawar High Court Bar Association expressed no-confidence over the performance of the Judicial Commission for appointment of judges and criticised the non-confirmation of an additional judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Justice Azeem Khan Afridi.

An emergency general body meeting of the association through a resolution demanded that the Judicial Commission should be abolished as it had failed to serve its purpose and had instead been mostly involved in ‘ridiculing and insulting’ the judges and lawyers.

The meeting pointed out that Justice Azeem Khan Afridi was a competent and respected district and sessions judge and was elevated to the IHC last year as an additional judge. However, it was regretted that the Judicial Commission decided not to confirm his services as a permanent judge.

It was decided to constitute a three-member fact-finding committee comprising Barrister Baachaa and Abdul Samad, whereas the third member would be selected by the two. The committee will look into the issues of non-confirmation of different judges of the high courts and also evolve the future course of action.

Addressing the meeting, PHCBA president Abdul Lateef Afridi regretted that the lawyers’ movement failed to achieve the desired objectives. He stated that the movement was launched for the independence of judiciary but so far that goal could not be achieved.

Mr Afridi pointed out that there were vacancies in all the high courts of the country due to which the backlog of cases was on the rise. He regretted that the judicial commission had failed to fill the vacancies in the high courts so far.

The meeting also condemned the terrorist attack on the shrine of Kaka Sahib in Nowshera on Nov 28 which had left several persons killed and injured. It was demanded of the government to enhance security at all the shrines of Sufi saints.