N.As appellate court without judges

Gilgit, Nov 12: The Northern Areas High Court Bar Association has called upon the government to immediately fill the three posts of judges in the Supreme Appellate Court which fell vacant about oneand-a-half months back.

Talking to this correspondent here on Tuesday, the president of the association, Advocate Amjad Hussain, said since the completion of the three-year contract period of the judges, including the chief judge, the court has been without justices, creating immense problems for litigants.

He criticised the government for its failure to give due consideration to the appointment of judges in the court. “This is really ironic that such a high level institution has been left without judges for a long period.” He said the appointment of judges was urgently needed because nobody was available to look after the judicial affairs and the authorities at the centre did not bother to take measures in this regard, which clearly indicated that they have no interest in resolving the issues of this region.

He alleged that the bureaucracy at the Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Division had been sitting on the files pertaining to the region and their attitude made the people of Gilgit-Baltistan question the credibility of chairman Northern Areas. He demanded that the chairman, who is also a federal minister, should take the matter seriously and resolve the problems of the region. He also questioned the reasons behind extension given to the services of outgoing officers. He said this was creating frustration among the incumbent officials as their promotion was being affected. Courtesy: DAWN