SC hears petition on dyke breach during floods

Three member bench hears constitutional petition by PML-Q leader Marvi Memon, hearing adjourned till November 10.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday directed Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Marvi Memon to appear before a commission, formed in Punjab, probing dyke breaches during the floods.

A three member bench was hearing a constitutional petition filed by Marvi Memon on the consequences of devastation caused by floods and their aftermath, and asked her to prove her allegations regarding the breach of Tori dyke.

Marvi Memon claimed that floodwater was diverted to Balochistan from Jaccobabad in order to save the Shahbaz air base which is being utilised by US forces.

During the hearing satellite images of the dykes allegedly breached by influential landlords to save their lands were shown to the three member bench, which is being headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The hearing of has been adjourned till November 10.

Reports in the media had alleged that Labour and Manpower Minister Khursheed Ahmed Shah had forced irrigation authorities to breach Tori instead of Ali Wahan, in order to save his own land.

Shah, last week, said that vast tracts of land in the province had been spared from the fury of the flood because the Tori embankment had been breached.

“Those who have been criticising me for breaching the Tori bund are playing politics on this issue. There is a 90-kilometre distance between Tori and Ali Wahan bund. If Ali Wahan bund had been breached, it would have caused unimaginable devastation,” he had told reporters in Sukkur.