August 25, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 11, 1428

LARKANA, Aug 24: The Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Friday ordered the authorities concerned to stop draining out contaminated water into an irrigation channel in 10 days.

The court directed the executive engineer of public health engineering department and Ratodero Taluka Municipal Administration to solve this problem and report to report about compliance of the order on next hearing on 19 September.

The bench, comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah issued the orders on a petition filed by Wahid Bakhsh Jakhoro, a resident of Bharchoond village near Naudero.

The petitioner has stated that the Ratodero taluka nazim and Naudero union council nazim, through public health engineering department, had got constructed a drainage network to drain out polluted water into Saido minor canal which irrigated more than 5,000 acres of agriculture land. The arrangement, he said, had contaminated canal water which had rendered his land barren.

The petitioner stated that he approached the executive engineer of the Dadu Canal and superintendent engineer of irrigation department’s western Sindh circle to seek changes in the course of the drainage but instead of getting the course of the drain changed, the irrigation officials changed the direction of the canal, rendering more land barren.

HARASSED COUPLE: The same SHC bench ordered the Kashmor police to safely shift a recently married couple, Zulfikar Jatoi and Fozia Soomro, to their house, and quashed an FIR registered against Zulfikar and his two brothers.

The couple appeared before the bench and stated that the relatives of bride, who enjoyed the support of the Kashmor taluka nazim, were out to kill them on the pretext of karo-kari’ because they had married in a court in Rajanpur on August 6 against the will of Fozia’s family. A concocted FIR alleging kidnapping Fozia had been registered against Sabir and Tahir, brothers of Zulfikar, the couple said.

Their counsel Shabir Shar pleaded the court to quash the FIR. The court ordered the police to quash the FIR, ensure safe shifting of the couple to their residence and bound down the DPO of Kashmor-Kandhkot district to protect the couple.

The court directed the police to register a case against the bride’s relatives Raja Merajuddin Soomro, Shoukat Soomro and Qurban Soomro and Nazim Abdul Raouf Khoso if they harassed the couple or issued threats to them.

The couple had been living in Rajanpur to avoid persecution.