ISLAMABAD: Declaring the Dec 16 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar “a national tragedy”, an extraordinary meeting of chief justices decided on Wednesday to develop a monitoring mechanism that would prioritise terrorists’ trials.

Chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasirul Mulk, the meeting decided that cases related to terrorism would be given priority and heard on a day-to-day basis, as provided under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.

The meeting of superior court chief justices was called by the CJP on Dec 19 to take stock of cases pending before anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) and discuss different strategies for the expeditious disposal of pending cases with different courts in the country.

Though an official announcement issued after the meeting did not specify how many terrorism-related cases were pending in different ATCs, it was acknowledged that at least 10 to 15 per cent of the total number of pending cases related to bomb blasts or militant attacks by proscribed organisations. The rest of the caseload consists of cases that technically fall within the definition of terrorism, but are not necessarily linked to actions by violent groups and non-state actors.

After discussing a host of issues from different angles, the monitoring mechanism developed requires that cases are tried on a daily basis.

Meeting reviews status of pending cases, appeals

“This forum shares the sentiments of the nation in general and the bereaved families in particular,” the CJP observed during the meeting. “The Peshawar incident has been, and will be, condemned throughout,” he observed.

One judge of each high court was nominated as a monitoring judge of the ATCs, working under the supervision of different high courts, whereas four judges of the Supreme Court have been nominated for to supervise the monitoring exercise being conducted in the high courts of the four provinces.

The judges monitoring the high courts will meet once a month with all stakeholders, namely ATC presiding officers, representatives of the investigation and prosecution agencies, jail authorities and respective home departments to sort out bottlenecks at any level that are delaying the trials.

The reports of the monthly meetings will also be furnished to the Supreme Court judges supervising the respective high courts.

The provincial governments will also take steps to relocate the premises of the ATCs, in consultation with the chief justices of the concerned high courts, to facilitate their functioning.

With regards to anti-terrorism appeals, pending in the Supreme Courts as well as the high courts, the respective courts will bifurcate the cases into militancy-related cases and others, so that the hearings of the former category are prioritised. The chief justices will also ensure that the exercise of bifurcation of the cases is done at the earliest in their respective courts, the meeting decided.

The meeting asked the concerned government functionaries to ensure the induction of police officers, trained in the process of registration of FIRs and their investigation, to replace existing personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC), Levies or revenue officials entrusted with the job of registration of FIRs and investigation of cases.

The meeting has also tasked the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP) Secretariat to review ATA and formulate recommendations for improvement or amendments in the law.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2014