April 30, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1429

KARACHI, April 29: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the federal, provincial and city governments in a writ petition seeking ban on supply of contaminated water by any means.

Citing a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) study, petitioner-lawyer Islam Hussain said that every third Pakistani drank unsafe water. Impure and polluted water, highly injurious to health, was supplied by ‘the tanker mafia’, according to the petitioner, who said the water supplied through pipes was also impure as sewerage and water supply lines ran side by side and leakage might contaminate drinking water. Even the so-called mineral water was not pure, he said.

According to the WHO study, the petitioner said, 85 per cent of the groundwater samples tested in 14 districts of Punjab was found unfit for human consumption. Seventy-five per cent of Islamabad’s and 87 per cent of Rawalpindi’s water supply was found unsafe. Fifteen out of 48 bottles of branded water were also unfit. Thirty-six per cent of the population in Sindh and Punjab was exposed to high arsenic levels. Ninety-nine per cent of industrial affluent and 92 per cent of the urban wastewater was discharged untreated into the rivers and the sea.

About 250,000 child deaths occur each year due to water-borne diseases. Chemical contaminants are found in drinking water in almost all the major cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Islamabad. Among the ailments caused are gastroenteritis, typhoid, hepatitis, cancer and dysentery.

Naming the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) as a respondent, the petitioner requested the court to assist it and submit a report on the health hazards posed by contaminated water and recommend measures to overcome them. A division bench consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada also issued a notice to the PMA.

Inmate’s check-up ordered

The bench also directed the superintendent of the Central Prison to arrange for a medical check-up of a prisoner Abrar and explain on May 6 why a September 2007 court order for a medical check-up and treatment was not complied with.

Petitioner Abdul Rasheed submitted through Advocate Ghulam Qadir Jatoi that his son, Abrar, was tortured in custody by the Station House Officer of the Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station, Manzoor Wattoo, and Inspector Haq Nawaz of the same police station when he failed to meet their demand for a payment of Rs500,000 for his release.

The court ordered on September 21, 2007, that Abrar be medically examined to ascertain whether he was tortured. The order still awaited compliance. Meanwhile, Abrar had been subjected to more violence, the petitioner alleged.

Notices issued

Contempt notices were issued to the chief controller of buildings and a deputy controller for demolishing a common wall separating eight apartments in Clifton Condominium, Block 2, Clifton. Advocates Gohar Iqbal and Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh submitted on behalf of their clients that the court had ordered demolition of an illegal construction in the housing complex. However, the commissioner appointed by the court reported after inspection that there was no violation. However, in ostensible compliance with the court order, the KBCA staff razed a wall separating eight apartments in the complex. Issuing notices, the court also restrained the KBCA from carrying out any further demolition.

Notices were issued to the education department in a petition moved by three successful candidates for teachers’ posts. Ejaz Ahmed, Abdul Samad, and Rashid Isra, submitted through Advocate Noor Naz Agha that they were selected as high school and junior schoolteachers after a written test held in 2004. However, instead of issuing their appointment letters, the education department advertised the vacancies again in 2007. They requested the court to direct the department to issue their appointment letters and cancel fresh recruitment.