Police officers walk past Pakistan’s Supreme Court building, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 6, 2022. REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
The first public interest petition following the 27th Constitutional Amendment was filed before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) under Article 175A (3).
The petition, filed by advocate Taqweem Shah through senior advocate Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, seeks to stop the construction of a flyover that is allegedly being constructed on land belonging to Balochistan Institute of Nephrourology (Binuq) on Sariab/Samungli Road in Quetta.
It asks the court to immediately stop the project, arguing that the flyover is being constructed adjacent to and partly on the hospital land, without legal acquisition or compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, thereby violating the constitutional property rights set out in Articles 23 and 24.
Binuq is the province’s only specialist kidney hospital serving patients from Quetta and remote districts, and the ongoing construction has created serious risks for patients by disrupting ambulance access, emergency services and dialysis operations due to heavy machinery, dust and noise, it says.
The petition further claims that the hospital administration had earlier approached the Balochistan High Court (BHC), which granted interim relief, but the case was allegedly withdrawn on December 10, 2025, under pressure.
According to the petition, the hospital had proposed the construction of an underpass as an alternative. The Government of Balochistan and the Department of Works and Services have been defendants in the case.
Balochistan’s health infrastructure remains one of the weakest in Pakistan, plagued by chronic underinvestment, difficult geography and long-standing governance challenges.
Large distances between dispersed populations mean that access to basic healthcare is often limited to poorly equipped basic health units and rural health centres.
