KARACHI, Jan 29: The Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) has strongly criticized the move to set up 15 more anti-terrorism courts, with serving army officers as sitting judges.

Abul Inam, the President of the SHCBA, criticizing the move attributed to the minister of interior, said it would be inconsistent with the principle that judiciary should be free from the executive influence.

The presence of army officers would be a negation of that principle, he said adding that it would also amount to subverting the Supreme Court’s judgment in which the military courts were declared illegal.

“The government’s intention has come under intense scrutiny of the legal fraternity which has felt appalled at measures aimed at gagging the judiciary,” he said.

Abul Inam also expressed concern over the delay in the appointment of chairman of the Federal Service Tribunal due to which about 11,000 appeals of public servants were lying unattended, putting the litigants in great distress.

He said for the past two months the litigants had been waiting for the new chairman to be appointed.

In the past also the post of the FST chairman had rema-ined vacant for almost two years.

Such a situation, the SHCBA president said, amounted to denial of justice to those government servants who could seek remedy from the FST.