ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: The Pakistan Bar Council disapproved on Saturday an official plan to introduce evening courts in the country and suggested that the judicial system should be expanded by appointing new judges.

“In the prevalent environment and existing judicial system, the idea of introducing evening courts seems not plausible,” PBC’s Vice Chairman Haji Syed Rehman told Dawn.

Law Minister Farooq H. Naek after a meeting with four provincial law ministers on Jan 2 had announced setting up evening and fast-track courts.

The government believes that evening courts it plans to establish in provincial capitals will help expedite disposal of cases pending for a long time.

The law minister had said that the initiative would also create job opportunities.

The PBC rejected Mr Naek’s suggestion saying the speedy dispensation of justice was possible only by inducting new judges with adequate staff.

The meeting observed that the idea was not practicable because lawyers did case studies in the evening and thus would find it difficult to attend courts.

A resolution to censure Attorney-General Latif Khosa for not issuing a notification to fill the PBC membership seat he had vacated after becoming the AG was withdrawn. The resolution was piloted by Supreme Court Bar Association president Ali Ahmed Kurd, former SCBA president Hamid Khan and Qazi Anwar.

The resolution was withdrawn after the PBC’s vice chairman formed a three-member committee to meet and convince Mr Khosa to notify Pir Kaleem Khurshid, the runner-up from Punjab during the last PBC elections, as his substitute.

The PBC expressed concern over attacks on girls schools in Swat and deplored that the worsening law and order situation was diminishing the writ of the government with every passing day in Swat, Bajaur and Waziristan.

The council said it was unfortunate that notables of Swat had started migrating to Peshawar or Islamabad owing to growing Talibanisation.

“The barrel of the gun has never been the solution to any problem. Therefore, the government should revive the jirga system in accordance with the tradition of the area,” Haji Rehman said.

The meeting condemned the massacre of Palestinians by Israel in Gaza. It called upon the United Nations and international human rights organisations to play an effective role to end the genocide.

The PBC condemned the malicious campaign launched by the Indian government and media against Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks. It emphasised that war had never been a solution to a problem and said if attacked, Pakistan would repel it with full force.