PHC disposes of suo motu notice, bar’s writ petition

Misbehaviour with judge at check-post

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday disposed of the suo motu notice and the Bannu Bar writ petition about the alleged misbehaviour of some army personnel with a high court judge in the Bannu Cantonment.

A two-member bench comprising of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaiser also disposed of the contempt of court notice against a private news channel after its anchorperson and management tendered an apology in the court for airing a programme on the issue.

During the hearing, representative of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) submitted that the video footage related to the alleged misbehavior of army personnel with a high court judge, Justice Ikramullah, had been removed from all the websites and social media.

In the previous hearing, the Ministry of Defence had also submitted its reply in the case and assured the court that it had not released the video footage. It said it believed in the independence and respect for the judiciary.

Additional Attorney General Qaiser Ali Shah also submitted standard operating procedures of the committee having representatives of the armed forces, lawyers and judges about peaceful solution of such an issue if it arises in future so that the lawyers and judges do not face any inconvenience at the checkposts.

The Bannu Bar Association submitted in the court that an alternative road was being constructed for the PHC Bannu Circuit Bench for lawyers, judges and litigants to avoid passing the military checkposts. It said the purpose of the petition had been solved and thus it should be disposed of.

The bench was hearing the contempt of court petition filed by the additional registrar of PHC’s Circuit Bench at Bannu. It was against the army personnel deputed at Muslim Gate Checkpost, where the occurrence had taken place.

The bench also heard some other petitions filed by different lawyers’ organisations about functioning of military checkposts in Peshawar and Bannu.The said incident took place on May 27 when the judge of the PHC, Justice Ikramullah Khan, was on way to Bannu Cantonment along with police escort vehicle.

The two vehicles were allegedly stopped at the checkpoint by the security personnel who insisted that the judge should show his service card even though a cop escorting him had introduced him to the soldiers on duty.

During the course of proceedings, the chief justice had observed that the security situation in the country was precarious and instead of personal interest they had to think in terms of national interest.He added that they had taken up hearing of this case for the sake of prestige of the institution and not for that of any individual.