PHC orders KP govt to issue prohibited bore licences to lawyers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed the officials of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to issue licences for prohibited bores, including those of Kalashnikovs, to lawyers in the province for self-protection before February 6 or else face contempt of court proceedings.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim Khan issued the directives to the provincial government in contempt of court petition filed by a lawyer, Ahmadullah.

During the hearing, Yasir Khattak, general secretary of the PHC Bar Association, submitted before the bench that the high court in 2015 had passed a judgment in which it directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to issue licences for the prohibited bore to lawyers in the province for self-protection.

He said that the court passed the judgment in writ petitions by a lawyer Shabbir Hussain Gigyani and Peshawar High Court Bar Association, seeking licences for arms of the prohibited bore.

In the order, the court stated that the lawyers would submit applications for arms' licences in their respective high court bar associations to be further processed by the deputy commissioners concerned.

The lawyers of Peshawar would submit applications with the Peshawar High Court Bar Associations (PHCBA) and others would file pleas in the high court circuit benches at Mingora, Abbottabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu.

During the course of the hearing, the PHCBA general secretary informed the bench that the doctors and teachers were allowed to carry prohibited bore arms on verbal directions of the KP police heads as there was no notification in writing with the government.

The bench issued directives to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government to issue prohibited arms' licenses to the lawyers for self-defence because they were under attack and being target killed.