KP govt doing injustice to APS martyrs, observes PHC judge

PESHAWAR: Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan of Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Tuesday that it was very unfortunate that the provincial government was not doing justice with the Army Public School (APS) martyrs as it has been unable to construct a monument as per the wishes of their parents.

He made the observation while hearing the writ petition of the parents of APS martyrs. They are seeking the construction of an international standard monument at the cost of Rs15 million. The bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan also upheld the stay order about the utilisation of the funds released for construction of the monument in the memory of the martyred students.

The APS martyrs' parents including Fazal Khan, Dr Zahoor Alam, Zafar Iqbal Siddiqui and Tariq Jan claimed in the petition that a bizarre structure was being raised by spending a meagre amount of funds.

The petitioners feared that the remaining funds could be embezzled. During the course of hearing, Fazal Khan submitted that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided to construct the monument in memory of the schoolchildren martyred in the brazen attack on the Army Public School on December 16, 2014.

They informed the bench that the PC-1 of the project was approved by the competent authority and Rs15 million was sanctioned and made available by the provincial government. In the writ petition, the parents claimed that the Directorate of Archives and Libraries started grinding its own axe when it came to know about the allocation of such a handsome amount for the project.

The petitioners maintained that a revised PC-1 was initiated and approved whereby Rs6.6 million was shown to have been allocated for construction of the monument and the allied matters and Rs8.3 million for the purchase of books.

The petition added that the petitioners being parents of the martyrs took exception to this anomaly and sought indulgence of the court in the matter. The parents submitted that originally Rs15 million was sanctioned for the monument. They argued that the Peshawar Development Authority was unnecessarily asked to execute the project. The parents said they submitted an application to the respondents to provide them the record of the project, but no reply was given. .

They pointed out that they applied to the Right to Information (RTI) Commission to seek information about the project, but to no avail. The petitioners argued that they approached the court when the respondents failed to satisfy them. The petition stated that the respondents were under legal obligation to comply with the original structure and plan of the project in question. They said the construction work of the monument was of poor quality and it won't be able to withstand the rigours of weather. The court fixed January 15 for next hearing of the case.