PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday asked the federal and provincial governments to pay within 30 days compensation under the Shuhada Package to the families of three Khasadar personnel, who were martyred by terrorists while escorting an anti-polio team in Khyber tribal district five years ago.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Abdul Shakoor expressed displeasure at the non-payment of compensation to those families despite its orders and warned that if payments under the Shuhada Package were not given within 30 days, contempt proceedings would begin against the respondents, including federal finance secretary, provincial additional chief secretary and director general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

It fixed Dec 17 for next hearing into the contempt petitions filed by family members of the three martyred khasadars, including Shafiullah, Amjad and Farhad, warning that if the compensation is not paid until then, the respondents will be prosecuted under the contempt law.

Twelve khasadar personnel and a child were killed on Mar 1, 2014, in two bomb explosions during an anti-polio vaccination campaign in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber tribal district (then Khyber Agency).

Orders payment to fallen khasadars’ families under Shuhada Package in 30 days

Mohammad Ilyas Orakzai, lawyer for the petitioners, said the families of his clients were killed in an act of terrorism as they were on duty and were escorting anti-polio teams to the area.

He said under the relevant rules, the legal heirs, including the petitioners, were entitled to receive compensation under the Shuhada Package but the government paid them compensation to the tune of Rs300,000 each.

The lawyer said his clients had filed petitions that were accepted by the court earlier with the directions for the payment of compensation under the Shuhada Package, which was Rs3 million.

He said despite the court’s order, the relevant authorities were reluctant to pay the Shuhada Package payments to his client in an act, which amounted to the contempt of the court.

Additional advocate general Umar Farooq requested the court to give the government some time to pay the due compensation to the families of the martyred khasadars.

When the bench asked why the court’s order has so far not been followed, the AAG said the terrorist incident in question had taken place in 2014 and at that time, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had a different status, while the region currently passed through a phase of transition.

The chief justice observed that over a year had passed since the tribal region was merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and if the provincial government had the intention, it would have paid the compensation to the families of fallen khasadar personnel.

The bench observed that it would not allow the violation of its earlier order.

It later gave 30 days to the government to pay compensation under the Shuhada Package to the legal heirs of the martyred personnel of the Khasadar Force.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2019