In the recent spate of acts of terrorism in parts of Pakistan the judiciary was also targeted when a suicide bomber rammed his motorbike into an official vehicle carrying judges of the subordinate judiciary on Feb 15. The occurrence resulted into the death of the official driver, Khursheed Khan, and injuries to four of the five civil judges boarding the vehicle.

The incident exposed the vulnerability of judicial officers and others attached with the legal profession, including lawyers. As the proscribed TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, another militant outfit Jamaatul Ahrar has claimed in a recent video footage that the judiciary and its attached institutions are on their hit list.

In the wake of the recent incidents security arrangements have been beefed up at the Peshawar High Court, Judicial Complex and Peshawar registry of the Supreme Court as well as courts in other cities. Not only Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi visited the Judicial Complex, which in past was twice targeted by terrorists, to examine the security arrangements, the high-ups of police also looked into the security arrangements in those buildings.

Ever since the acts of terrorism by militant outfits started in the country over a decade ago, the militants continued to target judiciary-related institutions from time to time. Several incidents took place in the country, including in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when militants attacked different courts and lawyers.

The most devastating incident of targeting lawyers took place on Aug 8, 2016 when a suicide bomber targeted the Quetta’s Civil Hospital where lawyers in large number had gathered after the death of the president of Balochistan Bar Association, who was killed by terrorists earlier in the day. The blast had resulted into the deaths of at least 70 people, mostly lawyers. Observers believe that the blast had wiped out almost an entire generation of lawyers.

Quetta is also the first city where a suicide bomber had attacked a courtroom. It was on Feb 17, 2007 when a bomber blew himself up inside the court of Quetta senior civil judge that had left around 16 persons killed.

The deceased included a judge, Abdul Wahid Durrani, and six lawyers. The blast was so intense that it had destroyed the courtroom.

The same year on May 29, a bomb planted in a vehicle went off near the entrance of the Peshawar High Court which resulted into the death of a Naib Qasid and injuries to nine other people. The blast had also damaged eight other vehicles.

In one of the devastating bombings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a suicide bomber had blown himself up at the entrance of the Judicial Complex on Khyber Road when he was stopped for routine body search by security officials on duty on Nov 19, 2009. At least 21 persons, including a lawyer and a court official, were killed and 50 others had received injuries. Three policemen were among the dead.

Another suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest at the entrance of the Peshawar Sessions Court on Dec 7, 2009, killing 10 people, including two policemen.

The Judicial Complex was again struck by terrorists on March 18, 2013 when two suicide bombers made their entry to the premises by firing at the security personnel.

One of the bombers blew himself at the entrance of a courtroom of an additional district and sessions judge, which had left four persons killed.

The second bomber was killed by the policemen on duty before he could detonate his suicide vest.

In another such incident, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the tehsil courts at Shabqadar in Charssada district on March 7, 2016, resulting into killings of 17 people and injuries to over 30 others. Witnesses had claimed that the bomber had first killed two police constables at the main entrance of the courts and had then blown himself outside the court of an additional district and sessions judge.

The same year terrorists had struck Mardan Judicial Complex on Sept 2, killing 13 people, including five lawyers and leaving 44 others injured.

On March 3, 2014, in a gun-and-bomb attack 11 people, including an additional district and sessions judge Rafaqat Awan, were killed and 29 others wounded, inside the District Court Complex in Islamabad.

Looking at the acts of terrorism targeting judiciary it is evident that the militants took advantage of the loopholes in security arrangements. While in some of the incidents the security personnel managed to stop attackers at the entrance of different courts at the cost of their lives, in some of the incidents the attackers managed to enter the premises of some of courts.

The Peshawar High Court Bar Association had also expressed its concern over the haphazard car parking system outside the high court.

Hundreds of vehicles of lawyers as well as litigants and other visitors to the courts are regularly parked outside the high court on the main road without any proper security check.

Experts believe that the law enforcing agencies should look into the internal as well as external security arrangements of different courts, including the high court and judicial complexes.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2017