Funds delayed: Heirs of martyred personnel yet to receive ‘shuhada’ package

PHC gives seven days for all funds to be issued.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has given a seven-day deadline to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Secretariat and the Ministry of Safron to pay the legal heirs of those eligible for the ‘shuhada’ (martyrs) package.

A division bench comprising acting PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Miftahuddin Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth were informed that despite court orders, the authorities have yet to give Rs3 million to Naseeb Shah, a civilian employed with the political administration in Kurram Agency.

Shah’s attorney Hashim Mengal said that his client was a victim of sectarian violence and died in Parachinar in November 2007. He is entitled to receive payment through the monetary package, which despite court orders remains pending.

In a similar petition, Immad Anjum Durrani counsel for Gulzar Khan’s family, a Levies personnel who had been killed by the Taliban in Mohmand Agency in March 2009, informed the bench that his clients had only received Rs0.5 million of the Rs2.5 million they were entitled to. Durrani informed the bench that the remaining amount had yet to be paid, despite the PHC’s directives.

Deputy Attorney General Muzammil Khan informed the division bench that the Ministry of Safron had already issued Rs130 million to the Fata Secretariat for the heirs of the victims, adding that it was now the secretariat’s responsibility to pay the final amount.

The Fata Secretariat’s attorney, however, denied receiving any money from the ministry.

The bench subsequently issued a directive that all those waiting for the monetary package should be paid the remaining amount within the next seven days, following which the court will take strict action against all those found involved in the delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.