KARACHI: The 10 antiterrorism courts in the city set up in four barracks of the Sindh Secretariat are likely to be shifted to the building of the Municipal Training and Research Institute (MTRI) in Clifton in view of growing concerns for the security of the judges and safety of the accused persons and prosecution witnesses.

Sources told Dawn that a proposal to relocate the ATCs in view of security concerns was presented by the provincial authorities on Friday in a meeting with Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court, who is also the judge in charge of 18 ATCs across the province.

Also read: Eight of Sindh’s 33 ATCs acquitted all the suspects they tried in 15 months

The MTRI building that also houses accountability courts and anti-narcotics court is located in Clifton’s Block 3, a highly secured part of the vicinity where Bilawal House is also situated.

The sources said that the meeting, which was also attended by the administrative judge of the ATCs and representatives of the home, works and services and police departments, also discussed two other proposals given by the provincial authorities in view of the security concerns to the ATCs.

They said that one of the proposals was to beef up security in and around the four barracks of the secretariat that houses the ATCs. It was proposed that an additional police force may be deployed to tighten the security of the courts, judges, investigation officers, prosecution witnesses and the accused.

Secondly, the sources said, the proposal to shift the ATCs on the premises of the Karachi central prison also came under discussion.

They said that Justice Shah directed the government representatives to submit feasibility reports of their respective proposals.

The sources said that the relocation of the ATCs to the MTRI building appeared more feasible for the provincial authorities and a feasibility report on it would be placed before the judge in charge of the ATCs in a couple of days.

They said that the proposal of beefing up the security of the ATCs at the existing venue was not viable as the Sindh secretariat was in the heart of the business district of the city with a number of offices of different government departments.

Besides, they said, the shifting of ATCs on the premises of the Karachi central prison was a time-consuming task as the infrastructural facilities for the courts were yet to be raised at the penitentiary.

The sources said that the shifting of the ATCs to the MTRI building was more practical as the facility was spacious enough to house all courts.

Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali of the Supreme Court, who is also the monitoring judge of the ATCs in Sindh, had on Feb 28 directed the provincial authorities to ensure foolproof security for the judges of the ATCs, prosecutors, prosecution witnesses and the IOs appearing in militancy cases.

He had also asked the judge in charge of the SHC for ATCs to hold monthly meetings with the presiding officers for the monitoring of the ATCs.

The sources said that a follow-up meeting would be convened soon by Justice Shah to deliberate upon issues relating to the performance and efficiency of the ATCs across the province.

Published in Dawn March 7th, 2015

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