Compensation payments to victims and affectees of the 2017 Quetta church attack are still Rs7.2 million short despite a lapse of five months, the Supreme Court was told on Thursday.

A suicide attack targeting the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church on December 17, 2017 left at least nine people dead and 30 others injured. Following the attack, both the federal and provincial governments had announced monetary compensation for the victims.

The sum, however, has yet to be disbursed despite several months having lapsed, over which the apex court had last week taken a suo motu notice.

In today's hearing, a representative of the Christian community told the court that the amount of compensation provided to affectees is Rs7.2m short of what was promised to them.

During the hearing, the two-judge bench, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, inquired why the disbursement of funds has taken over five months.

"There was a delay in the provision of the medico-legal reports," the deputy commissioner of Quetta told the court.

Hearing this, the bench ordered that surgeon Dr Ali Mardan provide the court a sworn statement explaining he matter.

"Does it take this long for the MLR to be provided?" the judges asked while adjourning the case until June.