Pakistan Information & News

Aamir Nazir knows it has never been easy to dispense justice in the hardscrabble Himalayan mountains of Kashmir. He regularly worked with an overcrowded docket and in dilapidated courtrooms. But at least Nazir had a courtroom to call his own. After last month’s magnitude 7.6 earthquake that killed more than 87,000 people, he spent weeks banging his gavel in a crowded bus station parking lot. He recently moved into makeshift quarters, but fears they could crumble in the intermittent aftershocks.
“I worry every day I walk into this room,” he said of the tiny office near the demolished court lockup. The Oct. 8 earthquake played havoc with all areas of life throughout Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. About four-fifths of public buildings collapsed in the isolated rural region, including an estimated 10,000 schools, according to government estimates. But one sector that hasn’t received much attention is the judicial system. Hundreds of courtrooms were destroyed and at least 1,500 attorneys killed, as well as 100 judges and countless defendants.

Read more at mudassir

Popularity: 1% [?]