PHC orders compensation for victims of airstrike

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Saturday ordered the government to pay Rs1.094 million in compensation to the family of each victim killed in a 2013 airstrike carried out by fighter jets in Khyber district.

Justice Fazal Subhan issued a six-page judgment in a case filed by the family of victims killed in the bombing. The petitioner’s counsel, Hashim Khan Mengal Advocate, informed the court that the airstrikes targeted militant hideouts in the Kokikhel area in Tirah valley of Khyber district in 2013, but bombs mistakenly hit the petitioner’s house, resulting in the deaths of five family members, including women and children.

Government representatives, including the additional advocate general, acknowledged in court that the bombing of the house was accidental. They further stated that the political administration at the time had paid Rs300,000 per victim as compensation.

However, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that no compensation had been paid for the destruction of the house, and that a court order in 2022 directing authorities to disburse the compensation had also been ignored. The petitioner was compelled to file a fresh plea seeking full compensation.

The court accepted the writ petition and ordered the government to pay Rs1.094 million for each deceased victim, while deducting the Rs300,000 that had already been paid.