Punjab and the NWFP are bloodied, thanks to the relentless onslaught of our Taliban brethren, the holy warriors. Sindh is beset with a total lack of law and order, with daily killings, kidnappings and dacoities, thanks to a squabbling coalition.
Wild Balochistan suffers on, thanks to its divorce from the writ of the state, with countless citizens being gunned down each day or blown up by bombs planted by its ‘liberators’.
The bastion of the nation’s defence was mercilessly attacked, casualties ensued, and in response the glued-together government and the people congratulated the army on its prowess. Kerry-Lugar was passed through the two houses of the American government, we objected, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi ‘rushed’ to the US, said what he could say, and Big ‘O’ signed the Act.
The minister then rushed home and tried to awaken the sleepy denizens of our National Assembly wherein are gathered those mistakenly voted in by a battered awam. Kerry-Lugar has been accepted, despite the loudmouths. End of that story.
The judiciary, surrounded as it is with chaos holds its own and valiantly trundles on, doing what it can to dispense justice in a lawless land. In the wastelands of Balochistan’s capital, Quetta, a distressed conscientious citizen, Talat Waheed Khan, filed a writ petition (572/2009) in the Balochistan High Court against assorted respondents which was heard by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa sitting with Justice Ghulam Mustapha Mengal.
Citizen Khan is Quetta-born and raised, and has witnessed the alarming degradation of the city in which he lives and works. In his petition he described how trees had been cut down remorselessly and no new saplings planted to take their place. Pollution has increased manifold causing distress and disease to the citizens. There are insufficient parks and green open spaces and those parks that exist are in a state of neglect or have been massively encroached upon with impunity.
He raised the issue of the wanton murder of the majestic markhor in Balochistan which is on the verge of extinction. He complained of the lack of amenities in Quetta, the chaotic traffic and the attitude of the traffic police towards illegal number plates or no number plates at all. He recounted how the walls of Quetta were disfigured with graffiti by political parties and others, and how public money was being wasted by the various ministries and government departments.
In short, he described the state and condition of the country and its cities and towns and the total lack of response by paralytic functionaries and their offices.
Chief Justice Isa and Justice Mengal acted with alacrity. On Sept 16 notices were issued to 14 Balochistan government departments asking that by Oct 5 the court be provided with the amount sanctioned in the last and present budget for the planting of trees, the number of trees proposed to be planted, the number of nurseries maintained and the number of saplings therein.
A map showing the main roads where trees must be planted was also to be provided as was a report covering two years as to why trees were not being planted on the roads leading from the airport into town and on Sariab Road. Details of the planning of roads, proposed parks and other city amenities were to be submitted with an attached map of the road network showing any improvements planned. Additionally, a report was to be submitted on the threatened markhor and measures (if any) taken for its sustainability.
Reports were also asked for on the number of vehicles plying the roads bearing illegal number plates (‘Minister’, ‘Applied for Registration’ and other such irregularities) and the number of challans issued.
A report as to what action has been taken with regard to the Balochistan Prohibition of Expressing Matters on Walls Ordinance 2001 and the number of prosecutions brought under it was asked for and notice was also issued to various political parties violating the ordinance.
On Oct 5, three of the 14 respondents presented their reports, all of which were found to be unsatisfactory — typical of course of functionaries who cannot and do not wish to function.
Caring Citizen Talat Wahid Khan and the Balochistan High Court have done their best. Notices have now been issued to all for Oct 21 and if cooperation is still not forthcoming the court will be forced to act against the defaulting provincial administrators.
Active on Karachi’s environmental front has been the Supreme Court in Islamabad where Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, sitting with Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Jawwad Khwaja, is hearing SMC 10/09, the people’s case (Citizen Dr Raza Gardezi of Shehri representing them without the benefit of counsel as our good lawyer Syed Mansoor Ali Shah was elevated to the bench of the Lahore High Court) against Makro-Habib (represented by Mr Khalid Anwer). A party to this case, the Army Welfare Trust (represented by Mr Fayyaz Ahmed Rana), is proposing that the Temple & Currie Water Reservoir area (aka Tanki Ground), which supplies water to a large area of Karachi (including Civil Lines, Arambagh, Keamari, Frere Town, Clifton, Chanesar Village, Saddar, and other old areas) and is a vital installation which has functioned since 1884, be given to Makro-Habib for them to develop a playground for the people of the area in lieu of the playground upon which their mega-supermarket stands.
arfc@cyber.net.pk
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