Islamabad High Court Issues Notice To Federal Government Over Tezgam Train Incident

The Islamabad High Court on Friday issued a notice to the federal government over the Tezgam train incident

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Nov, 2019 ) :The Islamabad High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Federal government over the Tezgam train incident.

The court directed the federal government to submit reply till November 22.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani of IHC heard a petition seeking the removal of Minister of Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and an independent inquiry under the Pakistan Commissioner Inquiry Act 2017 for the October 31 tragedy.

During proceedings of the case, the counsel for the petitioner said that Railway business class boogie caught fire and many valuable lives were lost in the accident.

Referring to Ahmed's claim that the fire was a result of passengers attempting to cook food using a cylinder in the moving train, the petition sought "hearing of both parties" under Section 24-A of the General Clauses Act 1897.

The petitioner also asked why Prime Minister Imran Khan had not sought Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed's resignation yet. "In the past, PM Imran had urged for ministers to resign to ensure transparent inquiries," he informed the high court.

"Improvements always come with the realisation of shortcomings and strong commitment to overcome these but the unilateral stance of Railway Minister before the inquiry result has made it impossible to fix the liability of Tezgam inferno incident on the Railway officials," reads the petition. He stressed that no 'meaningful' reforms could take place in such a situation.