PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday sought comments from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on a petition filed by the father of two students killed in the Army Public School carnage, seeking orders for the fulfilment of its commitments about the provision of funds for the medical education of his two daughters and performance of Haj by the aggrieved family.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ijaz Anwar Khan issued directions to provincial advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, who was present in the courtroom, to accept notice of the case on behalf of the government and file comments about it within a fortnight.

The bench issued the direction after preliminary hearing into the petition of Tariq Jan, a Warsak Road, Peshawar, resident, whose sons, Nangial Tariq and Shamail Tariq, were killed in the APS attack, which had left 144 people, including 132 students, dead and dozens injured on Dec 16, 2014.

The respondents in the petition are KP chief minister, the KP Assembly speaker, provincial information minister, and ruling PTI’s chief Imran Khan and his former wife, Reham Khan.

Petitioner has moved PHC for intervention on govt’s promises about daughters’ education, family’s Haj

Naeemullah Khan, lawyer for the petitioner, said the federal government had given away Tamgha Shujaat and certificates to his client’s deceased sons.

He said on Jan 14, 2015, the respondents, including the chief minister and Imran Khan, had visited his client’s house and had made several commitments to him in front of the media.

The lawyer said the chief minister had promised to provide special funds and other facilities for the education of two sisters of the deceased in medical field in the private sector.

He added that the chief minister had also promised to send family members of the martyred students on Haj.

The lawyer said his client had approached the chief minister time and again and even submitted application reminding him of his commitments, but to no avail.

He added that the speaker of the assembly had also made correspondence on July 28, 2015, with the relevant government functionaries on the matter, but to no avail.

The counsel said two daughters of the petitioner had already passed intermediate examinations and Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency test and therefore, they were eligible for admission to private sector medical colleges.

He said instead of providing funds for the two girls’ admission to medical colleges, the government had been using delaying tactics on the fulfillment of its promises, while the application of the applicant was sent to the Auqaf department and Khyber Medical University, which had regretted that the prevalent rules didn’t permit to do so.

The lawyer said the Auqaf department had nothing to do with the matter and that the government should have released special funds for the two girls’ admission.

He requested the court that on acceptance of this writ petition the respondents be directed to fulfil their commitments and release funds for medical education of the sisters of the two martyred students in private sector and send the bereaved family to Saudi Arabia for performing Haj.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017