No one likes being stopped at security pickets. However, in some cases, these check points serve the useful purpose of making the locality secure for residents and visitors and we have come to accept them as part of our daily commute.
In a recent incident, an Honourable Judge of the Peshawar High Court was stopped at one such check point in Bannu and the subsequent chain of events has made this a national news story.
We don’t have sufficient information to comment on whether the army personnel at the check point were unreasonable or illegally prevented the motorcade of the High Court Judge from going ahead. However, the handling of this matter by the judiciary and the media has not done anything to improve the image of the judiciary and the legal fraternity.
One would expect that given the current circumstances in the country, the judiciary and the military would avoid issues that can have an impact on the reputation of the other institution. Similarly, the media should have played a responsible role and avoided national coverage to an event which has no bearing on the improvement of law and order or the access to justice in the country.
