Lahore: AJK High Court Chief Justice, Justice M. Tabassum Aftab Alvi has said that the AJK judiciary with its limited sources had been playing a significant role to ensure environmental protection in the region at different levels.
Justice Alvi made these assertions while addressing a two-day Asia Pacific Judicial conference on climate, which was presided over by the Chief Justice Lahore High Court here on Wednesday. He said like other parts of the country (Pakistan) the people of the liberated territory, despite its small size, were facing environmental problems. And to seek settlement of these issues he said that a number of cases were still under trial in the courts.
He said that in larger interests of the common masses the region’s top judiciary had given historic judgments regarding the installation of stone crushing plants. “As per the judgment no body can install stone-crushing plants anywhere in the region without taking a formal NoC from the regional Environmental Agency”, Justice Alvi said adding that these verdicts were also significant for the protection of stone industry.
He said that implementation of the laws regarding the protection of environment pose a serious challenge to the government in particular. “The implementation of these laws had resulted in the shutting down of many industrial units and there are apprehensions that closure of industrial units cause large scale unemployment and poverty in AJK”, he said adding that to implement such laws government would have to allocate huge funds to tackle this issue. He said that the issue of environmental protection was inescapably linked to the future of humanity.
Pertinently, the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court judges, foreign delegates, including environment and climate change experts, lawyers and activists took part in the conference.