Daily Times

QUETTA: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday ordered the provincial government in Balochistan to ensure that victims and affectees of the attack on Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta receive compensation in one month.

On the 17th of December, 2017, two suicide bombers targeted the church in Quetta and killed 17 people, while 50 others were injured.

The Supreme Court had last week taken notice of the government’s inability to so far have disbursed the compensation it had promised to the victims of the attack.

The CJP, moreover, gave the one month deadline when he was hearing the case at the apex court’s Quetta registry on Friday.

As the hearing was underway, the home secretary informed the bench that the government had transferred the designated amount to the account of Quetta’s Deputy Commissioner (DC).

The secretary also quoted the DC and said that only 1 in 8 families that had been promised compensation had received these funds.

He also said that the government had set aside Rs. 24.1 million for the victims, while Rs. 8 million had been allocated to the victims of the deceased.

The CJP chastised the provincial administration for the inordinate delay that emerged in paying the victims. He also warned that he would take stern action if the compensation amount was not properly disbursed.

“Do you not realise how much time has passed?” The CJP questioned the officials present at the hearing. “Poor people were killed, while others were injured. Who will take care of them?” Justice Nisar wondered.

The CJP also issued notices to the interior secretary and to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) for misconduct and claimed that they had failed to explain why the delay had occurred.