PESHAWAR, Aug 31: If the government is sincere in establishing effective rule of law in tribal areas, it should extend the constitutional jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court there, said Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Thursday night.

Addressing the annual dinner hosted by the court for judicial officers in the province, the chief justice said absence of the rule of law in Fata had forced local youths into carrying deadly weapons instead of books and therefore, they’re on the way to destruction.

“It’s highly unfortunate,” he said.

He said extension of jurisdiction of superior courts to Fata would introduce a check and balance system and would help the country meet the serious challenge of terrorism. The chief justice announced that he would inaugurate the functioning of a bench of the high court in Chitral and construction of a judicial complex there on Sept 3.

He urged the government to provide proper security and other facilities, including courtrooms, to the judges of anti-terrorism courts as currently, they had been performing their duties in highly unsafe and insecure environment.

“Majority of ATC judges, especially those in Swat and Malakand, have been holding trials in highly insecure and unsafe buildings. Many of them holding trials inside jails,” the chief justice said adding that the government should fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide each and every facility to them at top of which was security as many cases of high-profile suspects would come to these courts in future.

“We are not afraid of any risk but it is a job not free from threat and risk and for that matter, my top priority is to ensure security of my judges and then trials would be held,” he said.

The chief justice termed parliamentary democracy vital not only for the wellbeing, prosperity and better future of the nation but also for their survival, as the nation was founded on the same.

“True that democracy and democratic government duly elected by the people of Pakistan is very essential. However, to run the affairs of the state and the government, the nation needs dynamic leadership having high credentials and credibility that will prefer national interest to its own,” he said.

Justice Dost Mohammad regretted that unfortunately even in the democratic setup, injustices in the administrative department had increased manifold and that was why the people, victim of the same, were rushing the courts seeking justice.

He added that this had increased burden of litigation on the courts to unbearable extent which was not good for the future of democracy in the country.

“Unless a true rule of law is established in the country where equal treatment commanded by the constitution to all whether mighty or weakest is fairly given we would be failing in our duty to put the entire system of the government in an orderly manner,” the chief justice said adding that this phenomenon of unjust and unfair treatment to poor and weak was bound to push the entire society into disarray.

Justice Dost Mohammad was all praise for women judicial officers stating that recently when he had sought consent from them for posting in some of the conflict hit areas where even police officials were reluctant to go, all of them expressed their willingness following which several of them had now been performing at Swat, Malakand, Upper and Lower Dir, Bannu, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, etc.

He called upon all judicial officers that as law had given them extraordinary judicial powers and therefore, they should exercise maximum judicial care and caution while making decisions in all cases. As this dinner was the first of its kind in the province, judges in large numbers turned up and enjoyed the event by exchanging pleasantries with each other.

Secretary to the chief justice Sofia Waqar moderated the event. She highlighted the achievements during last few months including the establishment of the judicial academy; proposed mobile courts for which legislation is in the pipeline; opening of a branch of Bank of Khyber on the premises of the high court, etc.

Earlier, a brief documentary on the recently inaugurated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy was screened.