KARACHI: A larger bench of the SC, comprising CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, resumed hearing the suo motu case on target killings and violence in Karachi this morning.
Lawyer for the Federal Government Babar Awan may conclude his arguments.In yesterday’s session Babar Awan in his arguments said that the impression that the Sindh government had let land grabbers occupy thousands of acres of Karachi’s land was incorrect, as 16,000 acres of land were occupied in Musharraf’s era. Awan said the government had deployed the Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Karachi and established checkposts to bring back peace and tranquility to the city.
On his argument, the CJP said, “We want results, not claims.” Awan said the government was serious and had the political will to eliminate violence from Karachi. He said the government had got the data of criminals from NADRA. Surprised CJP asked the IGP to clear the claims, to which he said police provided the data of criminals to NADRA.On his remarks, the CJP said the government had failed to provide security to the people and 306 people had been killed during the past few months in Karachi.
He said no killer had been arrested and no charge sheet presented. The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry made assurance that the Supreme Court (SC) will extend its full support to the government to control law and order situation in Karachi so that lives and properties of innocent citizens could be protected.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry yesterday said time had come to inform the people about the reality and the government would stand alert after the court’s decision on Karachi violence, and the situation would be normalised.The Sindh IGP informed the bench that until 2001, 50,000 licenses and permits of prohibited bore arms were issued in Sindh alone and the number had reached 500,000 till date.
The CJP said there was no need to see “here and there” when the constitution was available for guidance. He said 1,310 people were killed last year, one killer killed over 100 people and no one dared to testify him. There is a need to protect witnesses, he said, adding that extortion was a terrorist act.
The CJP welcomed the statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in which he said “he will disclose the names of target killers along with their political affiliations if the SC asked him to.” The CJP also praised the clear stance of Sindh IGP Wajid Ali Durani and Rangers DG Chaudhry Ejaz. The IGP had admitted earlier that his hands were tied and he could not even transfer a deputy superintendent of police (DSP).CJP took notice of the statement issued by the Federal Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, in which Malik said, “Several arrested target killers confessed during the investigation that they belonged to various political parties.
” The CJP said that it was a matter of grave concern. The CJ said that the government needs to strengthen its writ before dead bodies’ surface on roadsides, playgrounds and in gunny bags. The CJP also declared that the court would not think about “who gains or loses after the verdict is pronounced,” adding, “It will keep in mind that the verdict will be based on justice.”
On the other, bench member, Justice Jalal Osmani, said that there was a lack of political ethics on the part of the government, which is why the country had witnessed military interventions. Osmani further said that the government had totally failed and added that law and order situation was purposely being kept this way.Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said that situation in the city had improved after the CJP had taken a suo motu notice of the Karachi violence.SHC Bar Council President Anwar Mansoor, during his arguments, submitted that linguistic, political and religious issues were behind the incidents of violence in the city. To this the CJP did not agree and said there was no Shia-Sunni or any other ethnic dispute in Karachi. – Dailynews
