MANSEHRA: A judicial commission, recently constituted by the Supreme Court to probe and fix responsibility in alleged embezzlement of funds meant for reconstruction and rehabilitation of 2005 earthquake survivors, has sought details of $5 billion spending from the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).

The commission, headed by Mohammad Zeb Khan, the principal staff officer to the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, has written a letter to the Auditor General of Pakistan on behalf of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to furnish details of funds donated by the international community and released to various departments, including Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, for reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed in the 2005 earthquake.

The commission has also sought complete details of grants and donations received from the international community following the earthquake.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had taken a suo motu noticeof alleged embezzlement earlier this year on a writ petition moved by a human rights activist from Mansehra, Sheraz Mehmood Qureshi, and now the commission has been set up to fix responsibility.

Mr Qureshi said that the commission had also sought details of funds meant for the 2005 earthquake survivors from the secretary Finance Division and secretary Economic Affairs Division in Islamabad.

FARMERS’ DEMAND: Cattle farmers and peasants have demanded of the government to fill the vacant post of veterinary doctor at the veterinary hospital in Oghi tehsil.

“We are helpless to save our animals from diseases as the post of veterinary doctor at the local hospital is lying vacant for the last many years,” Khadi Khan, a farmer from Kot village, told mediapersons in Oghi.

A group of farmers from various villages led by Mr Khan said that the government was not serious about helping farmers to protect their cattle from diseases.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018