ISLAMABAD, March 14: Chief Justice Islamabad High Court (IHC) Iqbal Hameedur Rehman on Wednesday gave six months time to the federal government to determine the losses of 187 Baloch families who lost their homes and valuables in the earthquake that hit Balochistan on October 28, 2008, and compensate them in accordance with its policy.

While hearing the petition of one of the affected persons, the court directed the government to conduct a fresh survey to determine the losses of the families.

Petitioner Syed Saifur Rehman through his counsel Rafiq R. Sanjrani informed the court that authorities concerned had deprived them of the financial aid announced for the affected families in the province.

He alleged that 187 affected families of village Khanozai in the district of Pishin had not been paid even a single penny out of the fund reserved for the affected people.

He said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced Rs0.35 million financial aid for each of the families and the provincial disaster management authority later conducted a cursory survey of the area but nothing was done after that.

When the affected families protested against the discriminatory treatment, the chief minister Balochistan promised to conduct a fresh survey to ascertain the genuine affected persons but even then nothing happened, he added.

He claimed that following the earthquake the government received over Rs2,620 million aid out of which so far Rs2,000 million were distributed among the other affected people in the province.

Deputy Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, the federation’s counsel, however, maintained that the claim of the affected families was not true. Since they sought relief against the Balochistan government, where all the transactions were made; therefore, the petition is not maintainable in IHC, he said.

The court, however, observed that the authorities could not prove that the claims of affected families were not genuine and they could not be knocked out on the basis of technicalities, adding it was the duty of the state functionaries to act in quasi judicial manner and protect the rights of the citizens.