ISLAMABAD, May 23: The Iraq-Kuwait war-affected persons have decided to postpone the self-immolation after getting an assurance from acting registrar Supreme Court that their issue will be resolved within 36 hours.

On Wednesday at 11:00am, around two-dozen affected persons of Iraq-Kuwait war who have been struggling to get the compensation from Overseas Pakistan Foundation (OPF) for 22 years, gathered outside the National Press Club and announced that they would march towards the Supreme Court building and would set themselves on fire in a protest.

They started marching towards the Supreme Court building but the police officers and representatives of district administration informed them that they had arranged a meeting with the acting registrar of the Supreme Court. So two protesters, Mohammad Aziz and Abid Hussain, along with Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Liaquat Niazi and Assistant Commissioner Nouman Yousaf went to the Supreme Court.

Vice Chairman, Voice of Victim Trust, Akbar Azam Mughal, while talking to Dawn, said that they decided to put themselves on fire but acting registrar Supreme Court assured that they would be paid the amount within 36 hours so it was decided to wait till May 25.

Chairman Voice of Victim Trust Iftikhar Qureshi said: “We have decided to wait till May 25, after that we will burn ourselves because we have got fed up with the long struggle. We have appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan that a SC judge should be deputed at OPF to ensure the payment of the compensation to the affected people, as our families have been facing hardships for the last 22 years.”

It is to mention here that after the war, Kuwait paid the compensation to the government of Pakistan for the war-affected people. The money was handed over to OPF but it was not paid to 96,779 affected people even after 22 years.