ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took notice on Monday of a potential threat to an old Hindu temple posed by construction of underpasses and flyovers in Karachi’s Clifton area.

Taking cognizance of the matter pointed out by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Zohra Yusuf, the chief justice summoned detailed reports within two weeks from the Sindh chief secretary and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator on environmental assessment studies and the possible threat, if any, to the Shri Ratneshwar Mahadev temple.

In a letter addressed to the chief justice on Friday, the HRCP noted that business interests in complicity with the KMC officials had started the construction of underpasses and flyovers around Clifton seafront without any prior notice.

Such a major venture, according to the commission, would vandalise the very face of a historical part of the city. No environmental impact assessment as mandated by laws was carried out. Ground vibrations from excavation and eventual high-density traffic running so close to the 150-year-old temple could cause the collapse of this irreplaceable place of worship, the HRCP feared.

Court attack case:

Meanwhile, a two-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on Monday sought the federal government’s stance on increasing the amount of compensation for the victims of the March 3 gun-and-bomb attack on Islamabad’s district courts. An additional district and sessions judge and 11 others, including lawyers, were killed.

The government’s opinion was sought after Supreme Court Bar Association’s President Kamran Murtaza informed the court that the federal government had given Rs500,000 as compensation to the family of each deceased lawyer which, according to him, was a meagre amount.

He recalled that in similar incidents in the past, the government of Sindh had given Rs2 million and that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rs1.5m to the family of each deceased lawyer. Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti assured the court that he would take up the matter with the quarters concerned.

Referring to the shifting of the Islamabad district courts from Sector F-8 to a safe place, Mr Murtaza and Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani regretted that no funds had been allocated for the purpose. Besides, they said, security arrangements at the district courts were not satisfactory.

A representative of the interior ministry said the government had proposed five suitable sites for the district courts but these had been rejected by lawyers.

Mr Murtaza said a commission constituted under Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court to investigate the incident was yet to submit its report and requested the bench to adjourn the case till the submission of the report.