PHC summons officials over APS martyrs monument

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has summoned the provincial government officials today (Thursday), seeking explanation about utilisation of funds for construction of the Army Public School (APS) martyrs’ monument after parents claimed that a bizarre fibreglass structure was raised by spending a meagre amount.

A division bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Nasir Mehfooz summoned secretaries finance, Archives and Libraries Department and Higher Education and director general Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) to appear and explain their position about utilisation of funds allocated for the international standard APS martyrs monument in the city.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by parents of the APS martyrs including Fazal Khan advocate, Dr Zahoor Alam, Zafar Iqbal Siddiqui and Tariq Jan through their lawyers Mumtaz Khan, Muhammad Ayaz and Shah Muhammad Khan.

During the hearing, Justice Qaiser Rashid expressed concern over the sorrow state of affairs and said that it would be better that the APS martyrs monument was established as per the wishes of the parents.

The petitioners’ lawyer, Mumtaz Khan, submitted before the bench that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had decided to construct the monument in the name of the children martyred at the Army Public School, Peshawar, on December 16, 2014 when the school was hit by the worst terrorist attack in history.

He argued that the PC-1 of the project was approved by the competent authority and a grant of Rs15 million sanctioned and made available.

However, 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.

They maintained that a revised PC-1 was approved whereby Rs6.6 million was shown to have been allocated for the construction of monument and the allied/miscellaneous matters while an additional item, i.e. purchase of books, was subsequently introduced costing Rs8.3 million or so. .

The petition added that the petitioners being parents of the martyred children took exception to this anomaly and sought intervention of the court in the matter.

The parents submitted that originally approved grant of Rs15 million was sanctioned for the monument. They argued that the Peshawar Development Authority was unnecessarily asked to execute the project.

“The bifurcation of Rs6.6 million appropriated for the construction of the monument clearly shows expenditure on unnecessary items and would clearly smoke and recoil malpractices wielded by the respondents,” the petition maintained.

The parents said they submitted an application to the respondents to provide them the record of the project, but no reply was given.

The petitioners said they submitted an application to the Right to Information (RTI) Commission, but to no avail.

“Being dissatisfied with the conduct and intention of the respondents as well as the groundwork, the petitioners were left with no choice but to approach this court,” it stated.

The parents requested the court to direct the government to reconstruct the Shuhada Monument by spending the sanctioned Rs15 million and to restrain the respondents from spending Rs8.3 million on additional items such as books. The petitioners also expressed fear that the remaining funds may be embezzled.

The court had already stayed further utilisation of the allocated fund, due to which the provincial government did not inaugurated the monument.