Court orders video-link attendance of suspects after hike in fuel prices

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad district and session court has barred bared police from bringing suspects to the katchery for trial amid an unprecedented hike of Rs60 per litre in fuel prices in a week, ARY NEWS reported.

The court has directed to mark attendance of the jailed suspects through video link rather than bringing them to the court from the Adiala Prison.

The directives were issued by district and session judge East Atta Rabbani to his sub-ordinate judges.  The circular stated that the attendance of the suspects whose challans could not be submitted should be marked through the video link.

The court also appointed five judicial magistrates to mark the attendance.

Austerity measures have also been adopted by the provincial governments after a hike in fuel prices by Rs60 per litre.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan on Friday announced a 35 percent cut in fuel quota for government employees in the province following an unprecedented hike in petrol prices.

The announcement from Chief Minister Mahmood Khan came after netizens including federal minister Faisal Subzwari, Fawad Chaudhry, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and others demanded a cut in salaries and fuel quota for government employees after Rs60 increase in petroleum prices.

Furthermore, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah also approved a 40 percent cut in fuel quota approved for him, provincial ministers and provincial government officials in order to share the burden of masses who have been hit hard by the incumbent federal government following a Rs60 per litre hike in fuel prices in a week.

The chief minister while announcing a cut on fuel quota for government officials said that the treasury should not suffer the entire burden of a fuel hike. “Overburdening the treasury means overburdening the masses,” he said and announced that a 40 percent cut in fuel quota will be applied to the chief minister, ministers and government officials.