APS attack case: CJP directs K-P govt to provide an update

Directs health secretary to implement order on hospitals

PESHAWAR: The top jurist in the country took the provincial government to task on Thursday, issuing a notice to it over its failure to properly prosecute the Army Public School attack case.

Hearing the case at the Peshawar Registry of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar on Thursday took notice of how the case was still languishing in the courts and issued a notice to the provincial government.

The notice came as parents of Army Public School (APS) students staged a protest outside the court’s registry in Peshawar. They urged the top judge to provide them with justice. CJP Nisar heeded their calls and demanded an update on the case.



Clean water

The CJP had already summoned the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in a suo moto case on the provision of clean water to residents of Peshawar. Khattak arrived in the court accompanied by the chief secretary and health secretary.



“We have to work for the betterment of the people. Karachi and Lahore have been held accountable. What have you done since you came into power?” the CJP asked Khattak. The K-P chief minister took this as an opportunity to extoll the services of his government.

“In 2013, when our government came into power, the province was in terrible condition,” Khattak started. “Schools and hospital were in a bad way. We spend around Rs20 million annually to improve hospitals and schools in the province,” he added.

After Khattak touched on the subject of public hospitals, Justice Nisar turned to the health secretary and asked whether the provincial government had implemented directions issued by the SC in a detailed judgment on hospitals in Pakistan.



K-P health additional secretary told the court that there were as many as 23 district headquarters hospitals in the province. The health secretary, on the other hand, stated that there were more than 1,570 hospitals in the province as he confirmed the figures provided by his colleague.

The health secretary said the K-P government has yet to receive the detailed judgment of the top court.

The health secretary was provided a copy of the judgment and the CJP asked him to immediately issue an implementation order.

CJP addresses gathering

CJP Nisar also addressed a gathering of lawyers in Peshawar where he called for amendments to laws from a bygone era.

“It is the duty of the legislature to make and update the laws, while the function of the judiciary is to implement them. Old laws are the reason for the delay in the provision of justice,” he is reported to have said.

“We have to keep our house in order, I cannot correct everything alone, all the judges have to perform their constitutional duties,” he added.

“Sanctity of the vote is respected by working,” the CJP said in apparent reference to the political turmoil in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2018.