CHITRAL, Sept 3: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Monday urged the government to announce a special package of the development for Chitral district neglected for decades to the misery of locals.

Addressing a function in connection with the inauguration of the circuit bench of the Peshawar High Court in Chitral here, said he would take up the underdevelopment of Chitral with the relevant authorities at the highest level for corrective measures.

“Why are the people of Chitral being punished despite the fact that they are known for their highest degree of patriotism and loyalty and decency? Unemployment is a major local issue, which increases poverty and despondency among people,” he said.The chief justice said if better employment opportunities weren’t provided to local youths, they would leave the district for job leaving it on the receiving end.

He said there were limited sources of self-employment in the district due to its mountainous topography.

“I will create jobs in different courts inside the district so that unemployed youths could come back for them,” he said.

Justice Dost Mohammad asked the government to ensure provision of jobs to unemployed locals in public and private sectors.

He said dispensation of speedy and inexpensive justice to all was the prime objective of the judiciary and the Circuit Bench in Chitral was created to serve this end.

“I left my ailing father in the hospital in Peshawar to inaugurate this bench only to ensure dispensation of justice to people on their doorsteps,” he said.

The chief justice said the people of Chitral had seen two judicial systems, one put in place by the rulers of the formerly state and the other Provincially Administered Tribal Areas regulation, over six decades before the introduction of the system prevalent in other parts of the country after the inauguration of the Circuit Bench.

Regarding the working of the circuit bench, he said a judge would be deputed for all seasons with the appointment of more judges to the high court as currently, there were only 13 judges hearing more than 11,000 cases in five circuit benches apart from the principal seat.

Justice Dost Mohammad said the bench would help litigants save money and time, which they used to spend on travel to Peshawar or the Circuit Bench in Swat.

He said service tribunal and other cases would also be heard by the bench.

District Bar Association president Ghulam Hazrat Inqilabi and district and sessions judge Chitral Zamrud Shah also spoke on the occasion and declared the opening of the bench a relief to litigants in Chitral.

The chief justice also administered oath to the newly-elected office-bearers of Chitral District Bar Association.

Earlier, he inaugurated the bench at the Judicial Building by unveiling the plaque.

He also heard three motion cases and two pre-admission cases as a single-member bench.

Apart from the principal seat at Peshawar, the high court previously had benches in Abbottabad, DI Khan, Swat and Bannu.