Paktika breaks ground on first courthouse

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Written by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs Sunday, 18 July 2010 23:13

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan- Governor Moheebullah Samim lays the first stone in the foundation for the first-ever provincial courthouse in Paktika province. When complete, the courthouse will bring prosecutors, judges and legal personnel under one roof for the first time in the province. The finished project will house three court rooms as well as office space for prosecutors, judges and other legal personnel to bring all legal services inside one building. The building is scheduled to be completed sometime next year. (Photo by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team public affairs)PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The legal process in the Paktika province will receive a much-needed boost in the way of facilities as the provincial governor and several provincial officials broke ground on Paktika’s first provincial courthouse July 16.


Currently, the provincial court and its officials occupy several non-descript buildings throughout the city of Sharana.


This arrangement is not conducive to an efficient legal process, as prosecutors and judges are forced to hold court in temporary locations sometimes far away from their own offices, said provincial governor Moheebullah Samim.

 


Officials hope the courthouse will fix many of those problems when it is completed near the end of next year.

 


“I’m very happy to be at this ground breaking ceremony today,” said Samim. “It’s more than a foundation for a wall we are building today. It’s a foundation for justice throughout this province.”


The courthouse will contain 18 different rooms, including three dedicated court rooms. The remaining rooms will be offices for prosecutors, judges and other legal services.


In addition to the main building, the site will contain a composting latrine as well as a generator room.


“We need a building like this in order for us to advance the legal system here,” said Juma Mohammed, Paktika province sub governor. “We’d like to have more skilled officials from Afghanistan to work in the court and practice law, and this building will entice them to do so.”


At least 30 people will be employed during the length of the project, almost all of them local Afghans as well as some local graduates of the vertical skills development workshop held in Sharana.


“This building will help bring more justice to the people,” said Mohammed Jabid Noori, a native of Orgun and the head contractor on the project. “It will be great to have all the legal services under one roof here. I’m grateful to be able to provide both this building as well as necessary jobs for my own province.”
PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan- Governor Moheebullah Samim and other provincial government officials officially recognize the groundbreaking of the first-ever provincial courthouse in the Paktika province during a ceremony here July 16. Currently, those involved in the legal process in the province are spread out in several buildings across the city. When completed, the building will house three court rooms as well as office space for prosecutors, judges and other legal personnel to bring all legal services to one building. (Photo by U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Mark Lazane, Paktika Provincial Reconstruction Team public affairs)
 

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Last Updated on Sunday, 18 July 2010 23:19