ISLAMABAD: A judge of an Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) has tendered an unconditional apology for being “rude” to a litigant.

ATC Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi was summoned by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) while the court was hearing a petition filed by the son of Federal Investigation Agency special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, who was murdered on May 3, 2013, while traveling to a Rawalpindi ATC to submit a list of charges against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto murder trial.

IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi and Justice Aamer Farooq summoned Mr Zaidi in the first week of February after the petitioner alleged in an application that the judge made “uncalled-for remarks, besides threats of dire consequences”.

The IHC’s recently issued written order cited the petition as stating that the judge threatened the petitioner with dire consequences.

On Dec 22, 2016, an IHC division bench ordered the trial court to ensure the trial concludes within the stipulated three month period, as the suspects had not even been indicted despite a passage of four years.

On Jan 31, when petitioner Nisar Ali and his counsel urged the court to comply with the IHC’s order for the trial to be expedited, the judge threatened them with dire consequences for approaching the high court against him, the petition alleged.

Mr Ali and his counsel Ishaq Hanjra then asked the IHC to act against the ATC judge for making such remarks.

They maintained that the judge not only took “part in the proceedings personally, disclosed his mind about the case that too while abusing his official powers, authority and running the law in open court”.

The IHC has already transferred the court to another Islamabad ATC, but the case is pending without progress because ATC Judge Sohail Ikram has been transferred to the Lahore High Court and his replacement is awaited.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2017