“Yes, the chief justice has called a meeting of the chief justices on Saturday to discuss matters relating to the security,” Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain told Dawn.

The meeting will be attended by Chief Justices Khwaja Mohammad Sharif of Lahore High Court, Sarmad Jalal Osmany of Sindh High Court, Ejaz Afzal Khan of Peshawar High Court and Qazi Faez Issa of Balochistan High Court.

The meeting is believed to have been convened because of a Punjab Special Branch report about an alleged plot to assassinate LHC Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif who is reaching superannuation on Dec 8.

Soon after the news broke out, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asked Interior Minister Rehman Malik to investigate the matter. The federal government reportedly ordered the Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and Federal Investigation Agency to investigate the matter and submit a report.

“I have no idea about the purpose of the meeting which may have been called in the context of the purported threat to the Lahore High Court chief justice, but it will not be of much consequence because ensuring security is the job of the federal and provincial governments,” a senior counsel said.

He said the Supreme Court, which already had a whole range of security apparatus available at its premises, always had to look towards the federal and provincial governments for additional security.

The counsel said there was an urgent need to provide adequate security to the district judiciary which was more vulnerable to security lapses.