Court declares NDMA responsible for Murree tragedy

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has declared National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) responsible for the Murree tragedy which killed 23 people, including children due to carbon monoxide poisonous gas in their cars.

The NDMA Chairman is Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz since 2020.

During the hearing, the court asked the NDMA whether a letter had been written to the Opposition leader to call a meeting of the commission. At this, the official said the Opposition leader had not asked them to call a meeting, reports Geo News.

“You have failed, it was your responsibility to call a meeting, you were responsible for providing a national management plan to the area,” the justice told the management member.

Justice Minallah said that had the NDMA ensured that everyone followed the law, such incidents would not have happened.

It is also revealed that NDMA held its last meeting on March 28, 2018. To this court chief Justice Athar Minallah questioned that, “It is a powerful body. How come no meeting took place since 2018.”

The court ordered Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to call a meeting of the commission next week and directed the NDMA member to submit a report on the incident by next Friday.

The hearing was called because of a petition by Hammad Abbasi, a Murree resident. According to him, on their way to Murree neither were they stopped and nor were they warned of the danger.