The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday stated that 92 per cent of the highways across the country are dangerous for travel.

While rejecting a National Highway Authority (NHA) report about the country’s highways as unsatisfactory, the chief justice remarked that all the highways except Lahore-Islamabad Motorway have been abandoned by the authorities.

Allegations of humiliation of travellers against the FC Balochistan were also brought up in court during the hearing of this case partaining to the unkemptness of the Quetta-Karachi highway. The court has sought a reply from FC Balochistan, asking for a justification for officials’ misbehaviour with passengers in the name of ‘checking’.

The chief justice also asked why Quetta-Karachi highway was not being rebuilt as per the standards for building the motorway.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that the construction of Chitral-Gilgit Road has been completed on paper, but in reality, there are only rocks on this road and that no vehicle could move there. He said that it seems like the NHA is only busy maintaining the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway while the highways in the rest of the country are completely neglected.

He further pointed out that even the reflectors on these roads are being recycled and painted with low-grade limewash over and over again rather that being replaced. 

The court then declared that the NHA has failed to do its job and has not done any proper construction and renovation work on most of the roads that fall under its jurisdiction.