PHC begins videoconferencing with district judiciary

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has pioneered videoconferencing technology for simultaneously holding timely and swift meetings with the district and sessions judges in 27 districts of the province.

An official communiqué on Saturday said the first three hours-long meeting between Peshawar High Court and all district and sessions judges including other judicial officers discussed effectiveness of the Unit Policy, performance of the district judiciary and other related issues. “The PHC can now hold important and instant meetings with the district judiciary through this technology which will overcome distance barriers and reduce travel related expenses and time consumption,” it said. It added that instead of wasting time on travelling from far-flung and remote districts like Kohistan, Chitral and Dera Ismail Khan, now the judicial officers can use their extra time on productive work in courts.

PHC Registrar Khwaja Wajihuddin said that the technology would be used in all future meetings and interactions with the district judiciary.

ANP condemns death of official in NAB’s custody: Condemning the death of Prof Mian Javed in the custody of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Awami National Party (ANP) general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Saturday that the government had invented new tactics to eliminate opponents. Through a statement, he said the government was using state institutions for its political objectives and feared anarchy in the country if the government adopted these methods as a tool to end dissent. Mian Iftikhar demanded a proper inquiry to identify those elements who considered the slain professor, who was arrested by the NAB in the University of Sargodha illegal campus case, as an obstacle in achieving their objectives. He said it was regrettable that even after death the professor’s handcuffs were not removed. The ANP leader said the kind of governance the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had introduced in the country would have disastrous repercussions.