Replies sought from govt in child labour case

LAHORE

The Lahore High Court Wednesday issued a notice to the federal and Punjab government on a petition against the Punjab government on its failure to enforce child labour laws. 

Justice Shujaat Ali Khan ordered the governments to file their replies till March 30. A local resident, Suby Khan, moved the petition submitting that the government had turned a blind eye to the issue of child labour and at present kids were working as labour on many construction activities.

He stated as work on various projects including Gulberg Signal Free Corridors and Orange Line Metro Train projects is being carried out by the government’s contractors under the supervision of Lahore Development Authority, a number of underage workers had been hired for menial jobs.

He said the provisions of Employment of Children Act 1991 as well as Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act 2004 need to be enforced strictly, which the government had failed to implement across the province. He requested to order the government to enforce the child labour laws.

diamond: The Lahore High Court deferred hearing on a petition seeking directions to the federal government to take back the Kohinoor diamond back from Queen Elizabeth-II of Britain. 

Justice Khalid Mehmood earlier had sought assistance from the federal government on maintainability of the petition moved by Barrister Syed Javed Iqbal Jaffree.

The petitioner submitted that the Kohinoor was once the largest cut diamond in the world and 105-carat stone was presented to Queen Victoria during the British Raj.

He alleged that British rulers during occupation of the Sub-continent had seized the Kohinoor weighing 105 carats and worth billions of rupees from Daleep Singh, grandson of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, and took to United Kingdom.

He said the snatched diamond was cultural heritage of Punjab and its citizens owned it in fact.

He requested to direct federal government to bring the diamond back to Pakistan. The court will resume hearing on February 29.

Pilot: A division bench of the Lahore High Court Wednesday granted bail to Asmat Mahmood, a pilot of a private airline facing charges of crash landing under liquor influence. 

The bench ordered the release of the pilot on furnishing bail bond in the sum of Rs 0.5 million.

A special anti-terrorism court on December 4 had rejected the bail petition of Asmat Mehmood. Asmat Mahmood had crash landed the airline plane at Allama Iqbal International Airport. Sarwar Road police had arrested Asmat Mehmood for allegedly crash landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport on November 3 allegedly under the influence of liquor. Applicant’s lawyer argued that the captain was forced to crash land, as there was a technical fault erupted in the landing gear of the plane. He said the pilot had no other option but to crash land the plane to save lives of the passengers on board.

He said the captain had already informed the control room about the plane condition. He said false allegations of pilot drunken stage were leveled.

He asserted that the whole case was politically motivated and a bid to save the real culprits. He submitted after the completing the investigation from the accused, he was sent behind the bar on judicial remand and now he should be granted concession of bail.