Commission formed to probe Thar crisis, SHC told

Court disposes of petition after directing government to abide by its undertaking;

commission report to be submitted in 30 days 

Karachi

The Sindh advocate general on Thursday apprised the Sindh High Court (SHC) of having constituted a four-member inquiry commission to look into the deaths caused by, and the provincial government’s response to, the Tharparkar drought crises; the commission was to submit a report within 30 days.

The SHC’s division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was informed of the commission while hearing identical petitions filed - by the Sindh High Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research and others - against the alleged failure of the provincial government in providing adequate relief and health facilities to the drought affected people of Thar.

In pursuance of the chief secretary’s undertaking before the court, the provincial government’s law officer Ghulam Mustafa Mahesar placed a proposed notification of the four-member commission’s terms and reference.

According to the notification former provincial advocate general Abdul Fatah Malik was suggested as convener of the commission with Drs Tipu Sultan and Sono Khangharani and director general Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) as members of the inquiry commission.

The court disposed of the petitions by directing the provincial government to abide by the undertaking submitted before the court and issue proper notification within seven days as per the draft submitted before the court.

The petitioners had submitted that most areas of the district, including Mithi, Chachro Diplo, Islamkot and Nangarparkar were facing a famine-like situation for the last couple of years and over 200 deaths, majority of them of malnourished children, were reported only in the current year, while around 175,000 families were reported to have had to relocate.

The court was requested to direct the Sindh government to form a commission and pin the responsibility of the deaths on officials who demonstrated negligence in adopting pre-emptive measures ahead of the calamity.

The petitioners submitted that they had proposed the formation of a commission for the same purpose when the calamity had struck the district earlier in 2014. The court had also directed the petitioners, federal and provincial governments to suggest names for the composition of proposed commission.

However, the parties requested the court to direct the government to form its own commission, comprising retired judges, to investigate the causes of the prevalent deaths in Thar. They also submitted that the formation of a commission just a day after the SHC reserved its order over the issue, was clearly an attempt to subvert and interfere with, and prejudice, the due course of judicial proceedings in this case. 

The provincial chief secretary, Siddique Memon, in the previous hearing of the case had claimed that the government was aware of the situation and was taking curative measures. He added that it was willing to reconstitute a commission to inquire into the causes of current crises at Thar with specific terms of reference.

Following the submission of the notification, the petitioner’s counsel Faisal Siddiqui submitted that in view of the proposed notification the chief secretary had fulfilled his undertaking and that the petition could be disposed of.