Railways to reinvestigate Tezgam incident in Rahim Yar Khan

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The railways ministry has constituted an inquiry committee to reinvestigate the tragic Oct. 31 Tezgam fire incident near Rahim Yar Khan, according to a notification issued on Tuesday.

The legal status of the federal government inspector of railways (FGIR) has been termed suspicious as the appointment was made by railways secretary instead of the federal government.

Yesterday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) strictly ordered secretaries of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Railways to personally appear in the next hearing on Feb. 24 in the same case.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani presided over hearing of the case, and expressed displeasure over the proceedings and response from the concerned ministries over the matter.

“Does (the court) needs to summon the Prime Minister now?” the judge asked angrily, adding that people were burnt to death while the two ministries were unaware of telling anything.

“Do we need to tell the Prime Minister that the two ministries aren’t working (properly)?” he questioned.

“Both ministries are asleep as they think that nobody had died in the incident (…) if you won’t work, then we will make you work through (the court’s) orders.”

“Even the federal government doesn’t know if an FIR was lodged or not (…) (you) are oppressing the people while sitting in a building in Islamabad,” the judge remarked.

“Do you consider the Islamabad High Court “a sort of postal office”? (…) after passage of five months, you are writing a letter seeking a report,” the chief justice of IHC lamented.

Meanwhile, the court also ordered all investigation officers in the case to personally appear in the next hearing.