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ISLAMABAD: The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court referred the petition of Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC) chief Mahrang Baloch to the Supreme Court’s Practice and Procedure Committee to fix it before a regular bench. A five-judge bench, headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, on Thursday heard an appeal of Mahrang’s sister, Nadia Baloch, against the Balochistan High Court (BHC) order, which, on April 15, 2025, dismissed Nadia’s petition, directing her to approach the Balochistan Home Department. She then approached the apex court. Mahrang is currently detained at the Hudda District Prison in Quetta under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) on charges of attacking Quetta Civil Hospital and inciting people to violence. At the outset, Faisal Siddiqui, representing the petitioner, asked the bench to refer this case to the regular bench as no interpretation of law is involved in it. To that, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said, “Since you have challenged the MPO, that makes this a case for the CB.” The counsel replied that he did not ask for “an interpretation of the law” and had only challenged the MPO order. The bench therefore referred the matter to the Committee. Meanwhile, the CB, while hearing suo motu regarding the dilapidated condition of government schools across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, expressed strong dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to reconstruct schools damaged during the 2005 earthquake. The suo motu notice was initiated after reports revealed that hundreds of school buildings in quake-hit districts, i.e., Mansehra, Battagram, and Kohistan, remain incomplete, many still functioning in temporary shelters or tents. Despite budget allocations under multiple reconstruction programs since 2005, progress has remained painfully slow. Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi noted that reconstruction had been stalled for years, pointing out that 107 school units in Mansehra and 11 in Kohistan were still incomplete. “It’s been 20 years since the 2005 earthquake,” he observed. “We’re sitting here in 2025 — how much more time do you need”? “Implementation of the Supreme Court’s directions is underway,” the Additional Secretary for Education, while seeking another extension, adding that due to logistical delays and harsh weather conditions, the delay was caused. “Snowfall during winter affects construction work,” he added. Justice Mandokhail remarked that even after the 2005 earthquake, the schools have not been completed. Constructing new schools is important, but repairing the old ones is equally necessary”. The bench’s remarks underscored a larger and long-standing issue, which is the chronic neglect of the province’s public education infrastructure. The Additional Secretary further pleaded for three more months to complete ongoing projects, but the bench reminded the provincial government that similar extensions had been granted multiple times before. “We gave you time upon your own request — now show us progress,” Justice Aminuddin Khan remarked, warning that continued negligence would no longer be tolerated. “Our job is not to construct schools but to review the implementation process,” he clarified. Justice Mandokhail added, “We are only saying that you must fulfil your responsibility”. The court granted the KP Education Department an additional six months to comply with its earlier directives after the provincial government again sought more time to complete pending reconstruction work. The court ordered the submission of a comprehensive progress report within this period, detailing timelines for the completion of all remaining school projects. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
