ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) is paying Rs60,000 per day to a private firm, Mansha Brothers, for supervising the videoconferencing at Islamabad High Court (IHC) building where Manoor Ijaz, the main character in memogate drama, is recording his statement, sources have told Dawn .

The sources said that on the directions of Cabinet Division NTC had arranged the videoconferencing equipments, plasmas, cameras, cables and other related material but instead of executing the task on its own it hired Mansha Brothers.

They said besides this, the NTC has hired another private firm, First Video Connection, in London who had installed videoconferencing equipment at the Pakistani High Commission there.

In addition to providing the equipment, NTC is also offering digital subscriber line (DSL) service to the private firm free of cost, sources added.

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL) has also put a DSL line on standby to meet any emergency, a PTCL official said.

For the videoconferencing, IHC administration has deployed extra security staff and did not allow mediaperson and other visitors to use mobile phone inside the court Room 1. An IHC official said that the cellphone signals might have interrupted the transmission of videoconferencing.

However, the lawyers inside the court room witnessed some audio and video problems during the videoconferencing.

At one point of time, the commission chairman Chief Justice Balochistan Qazi Faez Isa directed the supervisor of private contractor to rectify the audio problem because Mansoor Ijaz was not hearing his voice.

The lawyers and the commission faced slight audio problem from the other side as well.

Director-General Cabinet Division Junaid Shah when contacted said they were acting as coordinator among the IHC and the government departments and providing logistic services to the commission.

He added the task of videoconferencing was assigned to NTC who made the arrangements at their own.

Amanullah, a representative of Mansha Brothers when contacted said he could not comment on the topic because of the sensitivity of the issue. He, however, said because of their experience in the field, the contract of videoconferencing has been awarded to them.