PHC wants heirs of bombing victims compensated by May 25

Govt officials warned of contempt proceedings

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed the top officials of federal and provincial governments to pay compensation to legal heirs of the six persons who lost lives and eight others injured in the bombing by the jetfighters of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Hangu district on June 11, 2009 or face contempt.

“Pay compensation to the legal heirs before May 25 or face penal consequences in the contempt of court petition,” a two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Ijaz Anwar asked the top official respondents of both the federal and provincial governments.

The bench expressed concern over the conduct of the respondents for not implementing the court’s decision issued on March 24, last year wherein the federal government was directed to pay compensation to legal heirs of the slain and the injured persons.

The bench issued directions in a contempt of court petition filed by Khan Asghar, a resident of Zargari area in Hangu district, through his lawyer Muhammad Ilyas Orakzai.

The lawyer submitted that the petitioner had sent copies of the high court’s decision to the secretaries for Defence and Interior ministries and KP chief secretary on July 18, 2016, but to no avail. On the previous hearing, the court had issued contempt of court notice to the secretary Defence, secretary Interior and KP chief secretary. They were directed to submit reply and explain why the court’s decision about compensation to a family from Hangu was not implemented.

During the course of hearing, the additional attorney general submitted before the court that the federal government had released the compensation amount to the provincial government. After knowing this, the court also issued contempt notice to the KP chief secretary, directing him to pay compensation or face penal consequences in the contempt petition at the next hearing.

The lawyer submitted that the authorities concerned failed to comply with the court order. Khan Asghar had filed the petition to seek diyat amount from the government for the death of his six family members.

The slain persons included his two daughters Hakeema and Asia and son Abdul Hameed, two grandsons, one-year-old Muhammad Bilal, and one and a half years old Abdullah and another person.

The federal government had been directed to compensate the family under the Shuhada Package.Earlier in the writ petition, a division bench comprising the then Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Mohammad Younas Thaheem on March 24, 2016 had ordered the federal government to compensate the family within three months.

The court had also ordered the government to remove an unexploded missile that landed near the house of the petitioner.The court quoted an identical case titled “Qabal Shah versus Federation of Pakistan” wherein the government had paid compensation to the legal heirs of the people killed in the airstrikes conducted by the PAF in Tirah valley in Khyber Agency. “Since it was an accidental airstrike by the PAF jetfighters it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence to compensate them,” the court order had said.