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ATCs to conduct daily hearings for speedy disposal of terrorism cases
* Meeting agrees on several steps to clear backlog of terrorism cases pending with different courts in countryISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk on Wednesday termed the Peshawar terror attack a national tragedy while presiding over the meeting convened to discuss the issues pertaining to expeditious trial and decision of the anti-terrorism cases in the country.
The meeting decided that the “trial of militancy related terrorism cases shall be given priority and heard on day-to-day basis as provided under the Anti-Terrorism Act.”
The CJP chaired the meeting of Chief Justices of High Courts and In charge Monitoring Judges of High Courts in Supreme Court and the ATCs judges to discuss and formulate strategy to expedite the ATC cases pending with different courts in Pakistan.
The meeting also decided that the Anti-Terrorism Court Judges must bound down the witnesses, the investigation/prosecution agencies and the defence counsel for a particular date so that the cases are tried on day-to-day basis.
Other decisions taken in the meeting are as follow: The Monitoring Judges of the High Courts shall hold meeting once a month, which will be attended by all the stakeholders, namely, the Presiding Officers of the Anti-Terrorism Courts, representatives of the investigation/ prosecution agencies, jail authorities, home departments, so as to sort out the bottlenecks at that level. The reports of the monthly meetings shall be forwarded to the Judges of the Supreme Court supervising the respective High Courts the meeting recommended.
The Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan Secretariat will be tasked to review the Anti-Terrorism law formulate recommendations, and thereafter steps shall be taken to forward the same to the concerned quarters for further action expeditiously and reports on the above measures will be forwarded to the Monitoring Judges of the Supreme Court as well as the Chief Justice of Pakistan so that follow up meetings are held on regular basis.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk