KARACHI: Policemen in Hakim Said case face termination
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, Dec 4: The Sindh government has decided to demote and terminate all those police officials involved in the investigation of Hakim Said murder case and also to seek a refund of about two million rupees disbursed among them as cash award, official sources said here on Tuesday.
The decision was taken by the Sindh governor, Mohammadmian Soomro recently in the light of a letter addressed to the chief secretary by the advocate-general of Sindh, Raja Qureshi, in which he had referred to the embarrassment the state had to suffer when the prosecution story was rejected by a division bench of the Sindh High Court during an appeal in the Hakim Said murder case, they said.
These recommendations were gathered by the AG from the detailed reasons given by the division bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Ataur Rahman of the SHC, while dismissing the state’s appeals.
The matter was discussed at a high-level meeting on Nov 17, presided over by the governor and attended by the law minister, the law secretary, the home secretary, the advocate general and the IGP, Sindh.
According to sources, the Sindh governor had asked the AG whether this action would affect the appeal filed by the government against the dismissal of the acquittal appeal in the Supreme Court. The AG had submitted that in no case it would affect the appeals. On the contrary, he would be in a position to inform the apex court about the lapses, if any, committed by the police officials.
The government has already taken an action against them and it wanted that a most important case like this should not fail due to negligence of the police officials.
The final consensus that emerged from the various deliberations was that Rana Maqbool Ahmed, who was promoted from DIG to IG, Farooq Ameen Qureshi from SSP to DIG Police, Agha Tahir from DSP to SP and Qamar Ahmed from Inspector to DSP had “mishandled the case and dubiously secured their promotions to higher ranks”.
The government was of the view that the manner they manipulated their promotions spoke volumes about their motives and cast serious aspersions regarding their further utility in public service.
The governor has directed to initiate the proposed action after issuing proper show-cause notices to the police officials.
In view of these facts and drawing support from sub-para viii of para-3 of Supreme Court on Suo Motu directives covering cases under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, the Sindh governor directed that the reward money given to them be recovered, the officers up to the rank of inspector be reverted to one rank below their substantive rank, said the official sources.
The Supreme Court had held that “the police department will ensure that investigations are carried out in a transparent manner and the investigating officer is made accountable in case of any deliberate delay or negligence of fabricating evidence”.
It was also decided that officers up to the rank of DSP (Agha Tahir the Investigating Officer) and those above him in ranks (including Farooq Amin and Rana Maqbool) be dismissed from service on the charges of misconduct and inefficiency to the point of embarrassment to the employer (ie state).
According to sources, the Sindh home secretary, Brig Mukhtar Ahmed, has asked the concerned quarters to initiate necessary proceedings against them in the light of the above mentioned decision.
The government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the judgment of the SHC’s anti-terrorism appellate bench which had acquitted all the accused in Hakim Said murder case.
The advocate-general had raised many law points which related to whether the short order and the reasons, passed by the bench, was sustainable in law and facts? He had also raised the question whether the judges were justified in discarding the confessional statment of the respondents and whether they were justified in discarding the overwhelming ocular evidence.
It was his contention that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any shadow of doubt and the judgment had resulted in the failure of justice.
After the state filed the appeal the Supreme Court, admitting it for hearing, had ordered that the acquitted persons in the case should be taken into custody and lodged in the Karachi Central prison.
