PESHAWAR: A weeklong professional development course for young lawyers of merged tribal districts concluded at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy (KPJA) here on Friday.

Organisers said the training programme was meant to equip 30 young lawyers from various tribal districts with the required legal knowledge and skills, Senior puisne judge of the Peshawar High Court Justice Ijaz Anwar, who is also the vice-chairman of the KPJA, was the chief guest at the concluding ceremony.

The other participants included KPJA director general Jehanzeb Shinwari, senior director administration Dost Mohammad Khan, dean faculty Ziaur Rahman, seniordirector (research and publication) Dr Qazi Ataullah, and other directors and officers of the academy.

Justice Anwar underscored the importance of continuous learning and skills development for legal professionals. He stressed the need for updated legal knowledge for young lawyers from tribal districts and providing effective and efficient legalservices to the people.

He said proper courtroom behaviour, adherence to court decorum and the ability to protect client interests without compromising on duty to the court should be the highest principles and priorities for a legal practice.

The judge said people in the tribal districts remained deprived of the fundamental right to justice, and the country`s judicial system is new therein, with citizens slowly becoming accustomed to it.

He said lawyers had a huge responsibility to do away with the people`s deprivations.

Justice Anwar said young lawyers should never abandon the path of hard work and should avoid accepting unnecessary cases, saying thisincreases the burden of litigation on the courts. He added that the cases in the merged districts were manageable `I hope that the training programme will increase knowledge of the participants and will also improve their professional skills, conduct and attitude,` he said.

Earlier, director general of the academy Jehanzeb Shinwari highlighted the significance of training for enhancing the professional capabilities, required skills, knowledge and experiences of young lawyers.

`Lawyers held a crucial role in upholding justice.I`m optimistic that this training programme will contribute to their professional growth and development,` he said.

Lawyer Hidayatullah thanked the academy for designing a diverse training programme, which, he said, helped young legal practitioners fromtribal districts refine their professional capabilities.He said he hoped that such programmes would be conducted in future as well.

At the end, certificates were conferred on course participants.