Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) on Thursday expressed annoyance over negligence of capital police and other authorities concerned on taking action against accused involved in poisoning of the Rawal Dam water.

The NCHR Chairman Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chauhan accompanied with commission member Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique took up the case of through poisoning material in Rawal Dam water. The officials of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Water & Sanitation Agency, Small Dams Department and Fisheries Department were present during the hearing.

Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chauhan said it seems that the department concerned is paying no attention to what is happening to the water of Rawal Dam.

The NCHR chairman remarked that despite laboratory reports declaring that the water of the Rawal Dam was not drinkable, no adequate measures have been taken so far by the relevant authorities.

“Rawal Dam is the major source of water supply to Rawalpindi and poisoned water poses risk of serious illness to hundreds of thousands of people who consume this water,” he said.

The chairman expressed his surprise on knowing that authorities were aware of the fact but had been showing reluctance towards the matter. He added that the commission also came to know that the complainant and offenders were trying to patch up before the criminal court where the matter was pending.

He also directed the capital police to include a non-bailable section of the law in the First Information Report (FIR) because of the seriousness of the matter.

The commission asked the concerned officials to ascertain the motive behind poisoning of the dam and add the terrorism sections to the cases.

The Secretariat Police official, present during the hearing, assured that it will be revising the offences mentioned in the FIR under consideration. This will be done immediately. He also reaffirmed that the commission would also be informed regarding development in the case

According to the obtained information, in the last few months, three incidents have been reported in which a large number of fish were found dead in Rawal. The Secretariat police also had registered case against people who had allegedly mixed poison in the dam in following with a media report in September this year.

The suspects were identified. However the action against them was yet to be taken from the capital police which perturbed the NCHR and its chairman shown annoyance of the failure during the hearing.

The sources in the secretariat police station revealed that there was a tussle between two groups over contracts of fishing in the dam and one of them had allegedly mixed poison in the water.

In July 2009, the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the contaminated water in the dam and called all the stakeholders.

A number of hearings were held but the issue could not be resolved. However, the Rawalpindi administration informed the court that water from the dam was treated in accordance with the standards of World Health Organisation before being supplied to the citizens.

Published in Daily Times, December 7^th 2018.