LARKANA: The Sindh High Court’s Larkana circuit bench comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar on Thursday stayed the shifting of Sweet Homes from Larkana to a place near Karachi and issu­ed notices to the respondents including the Baitul Maal managing director and the official in charge of Sweet Home for May 21.

The bench was seized with a petition filed by the Lark­ana Shehri Ittehad activists Liaquat Channa, Altaf Ans­ari and Mohammed Siddique Shaikh.

Advocate Zulfikar Hyder Abro, the counsel for the petitioners, submitted in court that the Larkana Sweet Homes was established in 2010 by the Baitul Maal. It housed 110 orphan children who had been living in the rented building peacefully since then. The children were enrolled in a school.

The counsel said that about two months ago, the Baitul Maal district officer and the official in charge of the Sweet Homes had shifted 35 students studying in class III and IV to the Sweet Homes sat Hub Chowki on the verbal instructions of the Karachi Baitul Maal director of special education.

This had physically and mentally disturbed the children, he said.

The district officer and other officials were reques­ted not to shift the orphan children as they and their relatives would face trouble in meeting each other while their education would also be affected, the counsel said, adding that the officials, however, did not heed the request.

The petitioners prayed to court to direct the respondents not to close down the Larkana Sweet Homes and arrange for the return of the 35 students already moved to the Hub Chowki Sweet Homes.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2015

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