QUETTA: Balochistan government has released a sum of Rs560 million for the families of 56 lawyers who were killed in the Civil Hospital suicide bombing on Aug 8. The deputy commissioner of Quetta has been assigned the task of distributing cheques among the heirs of victims.

The provincial Minister for Education and Chairman of the Shuhada Committee, Abdul Raheem Ziaratwal, said here on Thursday that on the directives of the chief minister, the provincial government had released the amount.

The minster said a member of each slain lawyer’s family would be provided a government job with relaxation in the government service rules.

Mr Ziaratwal said the government was planning to make arrangements for the education of the children of deceased lawyers.

The government would also provide funds for a boundary wall and other facilities for a piece of land donated by former federal minister Dr Abdul Malik Kasi for the families of slain lawyers.

Dawood Kasi, a son of Dr Malik Kasi, was among those killed in the suicide bombing.

The minister said effort were being made to send some lawyers of Quetta to foreign education institutions for higher education, including LL.M., to fill the gap created by the killing of such a large number of lawyers of the city in the Aug 8 incident.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2016