PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the secretaries of defence and cabinet divisions to file replies to a petition seeking compensation equivalent to the diyat amount for the legal heirs of six people killed in a PAF air strike in Hangu over five years ago.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Abdul Lateef Khan directed additional attorney general Syed Attique Shah to ensure that the replies are filed before the next hearing to be fixed afterwards.

The directions were issued during a hearing into a petition of Hangu district’s Khan Asghar, who said PAF fighter jets bombed his house in June 2009 killing six relatives and injuring eight others.

Mohammad Ilyas Orakzai, lawyer for the petitioner, said initially, the government provided Rs0.3 million compensation to the families of the deceased but later, the amount was increased to Rs0.5 million.

He said the government acknowledged that the deceased were not militants and instead, they were innocent people, including women, and therefore, the state was bound to pay the diyat amount to the bereaved family.

The deceased included Habib Nazar, Halima Bibi, Asya Bibi, Abdul Majeed, Mohammad Bilal and Abdullah.

The petitioner claimed that a report of the district administration also confirmed the occurrence.

He said the entire house of the family was destroyed in the bombing, while Rs120,000 and 21 tolas of gold also went missing during the activity.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai also appeared before the bench and said comments would be filed on behalf of the provincial government before the next hearing.

He, however, raised an objection saying why the petitioner had approached the court so late as the bombing took place in 2009.

The bench also directed the petitioner to explain why the filing of the petition was delayed so much.

Syed Attique Shah said the finance division had filed its comments, whereas he had been awaiting comments from the defense and cabinet divisions.

NOTICE ISSUED: A PHC bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali issued notice to the director general of Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in a petition against the termination of 16 contractual employees from a UNHCR-funded project of the FDMA.

It also asked the FDMA director general to maintain status quo on the matter until the next hearing, which will be fixed afterwards.

The petition is filed by Mohammad Jawad and 15 other FDMA employees, who worked on different posts in the project related to internally displaced persons.

Ishtiaq Ahmad, lawyer for the petitioners, said his clients were appointed to project posts until the expiry of the project period but the authorities suddenly relieved them of their jobs before advertising their posts.

The bench observed that the points raised by the petitioners needed consideration and therefore, the respondent, the FDMA director general, should explain position on them.

Ishtiaq Ahmad said his clients were mostly appointed in August last year to different posts as grievance desk officers, monitoring officers and guards in the UNHCR-funded project. He said petitioners were appointed on contractual basis until the completion of the project.

The lawyer said his clients were given extension in service from time to time until the end of Feb, but all of a sudden, they were informed that their project period had completed and therefore, they were relieved of their jobs.

He said the project would continue until Dec 2015, so it was an injustice to petitioners that they were removed and that fresh appointments would be made to their posts.

The lawyer requested the bench to restrain the FDMA from filing his clients’ posts until the disposal of the petition.

Published in Dawn March 11th , 2015

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