QUETTA: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered a session judge to ensure allotment of compensation cost to families of deceased labourers of Balochistan’s Kharan area.
During the hearing of suo moto notice case on the targeted killings at SC’s Quetta Registry, Justice Umar Ata Bandial was informed by the grieving families that they were being threatened by a local landlord of Okara.
The families requested the court to provide protection, to which Justice Bandial directed Okara police to provide security to the mourning families.
The grieving families expressed that their loved ones were laid to rest even though they were killed in acts of terrorism.
On May 4, six labourers were shot dead in Kharan area while working on a private mobile operator’s tower.
Additional Advocate General of Punjab informed the court that the provincial government will give Rs 1 million per family. Whereas the government of Balochistan said that it had submitted its compensation program in court for an amount of Rs 1 million to the families of the deceased and Rs 0.5 million to the families of the wounded.
Earlier, the mobile phone company had announced to give Rs 1 million as compensation to the families of the deceased, with a monthly stipend of Rs 20,000.
Justice Bandial ordered Punjab and Balochistan governments to submit the compensation amount to the session judge of Okara, ruling that the session judge will be distributing the compensation amount.
The court adjourned the hearing until the first week of June.
Earlier on May 4, unidentified persons had opened fire on workers, killing 6 and others injured. However, no responsibility had been claimed for the incident as yet. The deceased had been identified as residents of Okara, Punjab.
Justice Umar Atta Bandial, heading a two-member bench along with Justice Ijazul Ahsan conducted hearings of a suo moto notice case on the disbursement of compensation to the Quetta Church attack affectees.
On May 12, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar had directed the Balochistan government to ensure distribution of compensation to the Quetta church attack victims within a month.
A representative of the Christian community informed the court that an amount of Rs 7.2 million allotted by Prime Minister (PM) Abbasi was yet to be released. Justice Ahsan raised questions over the delay in release of the compensation amount which was said to be due to the delay of medico-legal report.
On December 17, 2017 nine people were killed along with 50 injured during two suicide attacks on Bethal Methodist Church in Quetta.
