Karachi
The Sindh High Court directed the health authorities on Tuesday to file comments on a petition pertaining to the use of a national programme to control maternal deaths.
The petitioners including Dr Shershah Syed submitted that around 5,000 women died during pregnancy in Sindh every year because of the lack of healthcare facilities in the province’s rural areas.
Syed said there was a shortage of medical care facilities as well as trained staff to attend expecting mothers and handle deliveries in a safe manner.
He recalled that the government had launched the Maternal and Newborn Child Health Programme in the province many years ago. He added that while funds had been earmarked for the programme, they had never been utilised.
The court was pleaded to direct the authorities to produce the record of the funds allocated for the programme.
The court issuing notices to the health secretary and others directed them to submit their comments within two weeks.
Pakistanis in Indian prisons
The court also directed the federal law officer to submit details of the efforts being taken to repatriate Pakistani citizens detained in Indian prisons.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the Ansar Burney Trust seeking the details of the Pakistani citizens incarcerated in Indian prisons.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that major discrepancies were found in the Indian and Pakistani governments’ reports on Pakistani prisoners in Indian prisons. He submitted that as per the Pakistan government, 460 prisoners were detained in Indian prisons while the Indian government maintained that there were only 271 and the rest of the 189 were missing.
He expressed the apprehension that these “missing” people could be misused in terrorism-related activities and requested the court to direct government to expedite efforts to ascertain the whereabouts of the 189 prisoners in Indian prisons The petitioner also filed list of 17 prisoners who had completed their sentences but they were not being repatriated.
Earlier, the ministry of foreign affairs had informed the court that a letter on the issue of the missing prisoners had been forwarded to Pakistan’s high commissioner in India but no particular had been provided yet.
The section officer of the ministry submitted that no information on the missing 189 prisoners had been received through any complaint or the aggrieved families of these prisoners.
He submitted that the Pakistani High Commission in India had already taken up the issue with the Indian authorities.