CJP expected to hear public interest case at Supreme Court’s Peshawar Registry

PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar is expected to hear a public interest case related to the provision of clean drinking water in the city.

As per the cause list issued for the Supreme Court’s Peshawar Registry Branch, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Supreme Court Mian Saqib Nisar would hear the cases today.

Interestingly, ahead of the CJP’s visit to Peshawar, the government hospitals and other departments were directed by the authorities to deliver the best services to public.

During his visit to Peshawar, the CJP is expected to hear a case related lack of clean drinking water in the city and other parts of the province.

Supreme Court senior lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan told The News that he had been made a party to the Supreme Court’s suo moto case of provision of clean drinking water and appeared before a bench headed by CJP at Lahore Registry Branch.

He said that when he started arguments in the case, the CJP told him that his case would be heard at Peshawar Registry Branch.

Some three weeks ago, the lawyer had sent the three-page letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan and highlighted the problems being faced by the citizens of Peshawar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In the letter, he recalled that the chief justice, while hearing his miscellaneous applications in suo moto case in Supreme Court Lahore Registry about clean drinking water, had told him that his case would be heard in Peshawar.

The lawyer, who is known for pursuing public interest litigation, praised the Chief Justice of Pakistan for removing barricades from the roads in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi.

Muhammad Khurshid Khan, who has highlighted the problem of roads closure due to barricades and erection of walls in Peshawar Cantonment, submitted that the roads had been blocked in Peshawar for more than a decade in the name of security.

The lawyer pointed out that a road was closed for security of the Iranian Consulate in University Town and for the US Consulate in Peshawar Cantonment.

He submitted that walls had also been erected on the road leading to the Governor’s House and Chief Minister’s House in the Peshawar Cantonment.

Muhammad Khurshid Khan pointed out that a wall had been built on the road towards KP Police Lines and Civil Secretariat.

The lawyer pointed out that Balahisar Fort was closed to public and the Frontier Corps was not vacating it despite the fact that an alternative site measuring over 500 kanals of land in Hayatabad in Peshawar had been earmarked for housing the FC Headquarters and some construction work had already been done there.

In the letter, the lawyer highlighted the condition of the public sector hospitals in the city and requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to visit hospitals in Peshawar.

He said that though the PTI-led provincial government claimed to have improved the performance of hospitals, in reality their conditions had become worst.

The Supreme Court had taken suo moto notice of the issue of provision of clean drinking water to the citizens of Sindh.

An official of the Peshawar High Court said that the CJP would address the members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council and presidents of all bar associations at conference room of the PHC after finishing court work. The CJP will also visit the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Judicial Academy.