Mati Ullah Khan
The honorable Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar’s recent remarks about the construction of dams in the Country by the Executives instead of under the umbrella of the Supreme Court has raised a question that whether dams would be constructed in the Country or not as public is looking at the Supreme Court as the only institution which could build dams because of trust deficit over Executives (administrative wings of the government).
There is no doubt that the Supreme Court is the only hope for people after the Chief Justice took the issue during the era of previous government.
Soon after the Chief Justice took up the dams issue, and even ordered a bank account to be opened directly looked after by the Supreme Court for raising funds for Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams, general public as well as Pakistan Army and bureaucrats donated to the account “Supreme Court of Pakistan Diamer Basha and Mohmand Dam Fund” created for the dams, believing that the Supreme Court would ensure the building of long-demanded dams in the Court which would eventually help Pakistan get rid of water crises.
By now Rs 507,646,926 has been raised in Diamer-Basha and Mohmand Dam Fund, according to the Supreme Court’s website.
However after a few weeks the Diamer-Basha and Mohmand Dam Fund was initiated, the Chief Justice while hearing a case pertaining to the fund-raising for the dams remarked that it is not the judiciary’s job to build water reservoirs in the Country, and that it is the responsibility of the Executive.
His remarks certainly created uncertainty among the public about the future of construction of dams in the Country because all previous governments since late 60s have not taken construction of dams as their priorities.
Meanwhile, politicians take the statement of the Chief Justice as citing for the future and stating that the Supreme Court has observed that issue of dams or any other infrastructural development is not the responsibility of the Judiciary rather this responsibility falls under the authority of Executives.
I repeat: Now CJP Saqib Nisar has said it is not the judiciary’s job to build water reservoirs in the country, and that it is the responsibility of the executive. His comments came weeks after he had initiated the donation fund for the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams.
— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) August 1, 2018
Majority of the people in Pakistan like this writer believes that the Supreme Court should not hand over responsibility of construction of dams to Executives and should look after the responsibility in the future unless dams are constructed in the Country under the guidance and administrative control of the Supreme Court.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of Dispatch News Desk.
