Terror victims: SC finds flaws in monetary aid policy

‘262 people died in target killings, terrorism in Balochistan’.


Express June 29, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


Seeking a copy of the report of the judicial commission formed to probe the Kharotabad incident, the Supreme Court (SC) expressed shock over the compensation differential between civilians and military targets of terrorism.


Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that according to media reports, the joint commission had submitted its report on the Kharotabad incident to the government and in that case, it must be shared with the SC as well.

The bench was hearing the case of target killings and the law and order situation in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, Attorney-General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq and Additional Advocate-General Balochistan Azam Khattak appeared before the court and submitted the report.

Khattak informed the bench that 262 people had lost their lives in target killings and other incidents of terror this year. Around 560 people were wounded, while 625 incidents of public property damage were reported. As compensation, Rs215 million were disbursed amongst heirs of police officials and Rs115 million were paid to heirs of Frontier Corps (FC) personnel.

Khattak informed the court that Rs2 million are paid as compensation to officers of the army, FC and levies who die while on duty and Rs0.4 million are paid to heirs of civilians.

Expressing shock over the discrimination, the CJ asked the attorney-general to review the compensation policy and submit a report at the next hearing. “Both are human, why is there discrimination? Is the blood of civilians and officials different?” the CJ remarked.

While inquiring about 180 unidentified bodies and their heirs, the court sought the record of extrajudicial killings in Balochistan from Khattak.

The court also directed the Balochistan chief secretary to expedite the recovery process of missing lawyers.  The case was adjourned for three weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2011.


COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ