ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar Friday said he took suo moto notice of Hazara killings in Quetta as they were like ethnic cleansing.

A two-member bench, headed by CJP Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Ijazul Hassan, said during a hearing of the suo moto notice at the Supreme Court Quetta Registry, “We find no word to condemn the incidents of Hazara killings.”

Counsel for Hazara community, Advocate Iftikhar Ali, said, “We are facing the loss of lives and money. Members of the Hazara community are not given admissions to universities. They are not allowed to do business freely. Some members of the community were forced to migrate to Australia,” the counsel lamented, adding Hazaras were being killed for the last 20 years.

On this occasion, Justice Saqib Nisar asked the IGP and agencies to submit the measures that could be taken to protect the Hazara community. He asked the IGP if a report had been prepared on targeted killings. He then presented a report on the targeted killings in the court.

The chief justice said a committee had been formed to look into the matter.

Separately, Chief Justice Nisar also admonished young doctors of Balochistan for staging protests and ordered the authorities to fire those involved in politics.

A two-member bench, headed by the chief justice, was hearing a case pertaining to the condition of public-sector hospitals of the province.

Balochistan Chief Secretary Aurangzeb Haq informed the court that Rs 1 billion had been released by the government for the uplift of the hospitals, adding 571 new doctors would also be hired.

The secretary said young doctors were not performing their duties properly as they were involved in politics. The top judge remarked the doctors who were doing politics should be removed from service. Justice Ijazul Ahsan observed: “Only in Pakistan doctors stop serving patients and go on strike.”

Young Doctors Association President Dr Yasir Khosti who was present in the court said their issues had not been resolved. He told the bench that young doctors were being paid Rs 24,000 in Balochistan whereas those in other provinces were getting Rs 60,000. The chief secretary said the stipend was being increased by Rs 4,000.

The chief justice remarked doctors should first come to hospitals to perform their duties and then demand a solution to their problems. He added that stipend was being paid to them according to the condition of the province.

In another case, the Supreme Court directed authorities to make arrangements in all official records, documents, correspondence etc. to refer the Christian community as “Masihi” instead of “Esai”.

A two-member, bench chaired by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Ejazul Ahsan passed the directions while hearing plea moved by Samuel Payara, Chairman International Minority Rights Forum regarding the use of the word Esai.

During course of proceedings, the Chief Justice observed that it had been complained despite the decision taken by the Council of Islamic Ideology in its 175th meeting held on Sept 28-29th, 2009 that there was no harm, as per Shariah injunctions, to refer to the members of Christian community as “Masihi” instead of “Esai”, no steps had been taken by the government in this regard yet.

"Let the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology be implemented in letter and spirit and arrangement should be made in all official records, documents, correspondence etc. to refer to the Christian community as 'Masihi' instead of 'Esai'.

The Bench maintained the plea after hearing the arguments placed by the litigants. Subsequently, the Bench disposed of the matter.

QUETTA INCIDENT COMPENSATION ISSUE

Supreme Court issued a notice to the authorities asking them why the case of misconduct should not be initiated against Deputy Commissioner, District Compensation Committee and Compensation Committee Quetta, for the delay in compensating the Quetta victims.

Furthermore, in order to expedite the matter, Supreme Court directed Deputy Commissioner Quetta to immediately transmit compensation amount for Quetta victims, lying in his account to the Sessions Judge's account.

The two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Nisar also directed Sessions Judge to ensure that all the applications of the legal heirs would be decided within a month from May 11.

During the course of proceedings, the bench was informed that on December 17, 2017, a suicide terrorist attack took place in the Methodist Church in Quetta. Eight persons lost their lives while 58 were injured.

The federal government as well as the provincial government promised compensation package of Rs 1 million each for the deceased, Rs 500,000 for the critically injured whereas Rs100,000 for less critically injured.

It was stated that the federal government had made a sum of Rs26.4 million available to the provincial government to be disbursed as compensation.

The bench was informed that before any compensation was disbursed, there was a requirement of a Succession Certificate so that the compensation could be paid to the legal heirs who were lawfully entitled to receive such compensation.

According to the record produced before the court out of the 8, the legal heirs of only one had so far submitted the succession certificate. Presumably the applications of the rest were pending before the competent fora.