The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Islamabad High Court Bar Association President proposal of weapon training for lawyers and judges, saying that instead of proficiency to pull the trigger of a gun the legal fraternity should be trained in disaster management.
Resuming the hearing of a suo motu notice on suicide attack on Islamabad District courts on March 3, a three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani directed the IHCBA president to examine the Committee report on the incident in the Supreme Court registrar's office and submit proposals on the next hearing. IHCBA president Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani submitted that all the judges and lawyers should be given disaster management and weapon training and after successful completion of their training, arms licenses should be issued to them.
However, the Chief Justice remarked that the Pakistani society should be free of arms whereas a member of the bench Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh observed that lawyers were already trained and there should be disaster management training for them. The IHCBA president further proposed that lawyers and their families should be given free medical facility in government hospitals and urged the court to direct the federal government for necessary arrangements.
To which, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh said the bars' funds should be spent on the life and health insurances of lawyers' community instead of constructing buildings. Kiyani also recommended that all police officials must be held responsible for their inefficiency, cowardliness through registration of criminal cases along with departmental actions and the IHCBA body be allowed to register cases against those police officers, who had not performed their duties. Dismissing the proposal, the bench observed: 'let the concerned authority must do its duty'.
The court did not agree with the recommendations of the IHCBA president that the judges of District Courts Islamabad should be transferred immediately to other provinces as there are some judges who have personal enmity, which is also the cause of security issues. The bench directed the IHCBA president to follow the due process of law in the matter by approaching the Chief Justice of the IHC regarding the matter. The hearing of case was adjourned till April 15.