Daily Times

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi summoned the record of compensation payments announced by the Punjab chief minister to the Sunder Industrial Factory.

The judge ordered for production of the payment record till June 28. Justice Qureshi observed that it was tragic that the leadership was running the affairs of the country either from USA, England, Dubai or other foreign country instead of staying among the masses who voted for them.

The judge was hearing petitions for non-payment of compensation to the victims. During the hearing on Tuesday, factory owner’s son Rana Shahzad informed that heirs of 45 deceased were paid compensation of half a million rupees each while 103 injured were also paid compensation according to formula set by the inquiry committee. He said the compensation announced by the chief minister could not be paid to the victims, adding that they were not even allowed to remove the debris of the factory.

The Punjab government counsel alleged that the factory owner had to pay the compensation and they had not made all the payments. Shahzad’s counsel in reply said that the compensation could not be made as two members of the special committee were on an official tour of China.

Justice Qureshi, while expressing concern over the government’s apathy, ordered to submit complete record of payments.

Bonded labour case: The Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered to release 24 bonded labourers, including women and children, from the detention of a landlord belonging to Mandi Bahaud Din.

Nazir Ahmad, a relative of the detainees, had moved habeas corpus submitting that the detainees were working as bonded labour for landlord Malik Iqbal for years.

He alleged that on demand of their salaries, the landlord detained the labourers and had not been letting them to go. He requested to get the detainees recovered from the illegal detention of the landlord and set them free.

The court had deputed a bailiff who recovered the detainees from illegal custody of Malik Iqbal and produced them before court. The court ordered to release them and also directed the police concerned to take action against the landlord on the application of the detainees.