0
KARACHI, May 8: Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi of the Sindh High Court on Thursday put the state on notice on applications filed by a former PPP MNA and father-in-law of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, Hakim Ali Zardari, against auction of property allegedly belonging to him in execution of two decrees passed against him.
The decrees, which amount to a total of Rs130 million, were obtained by a creditor bank, BCCI, against Mr Zardari. Two bungalows at prime locations in Karachi were first attached and now being auctioned in execution of the decrees. The banking court advertised the auction and the judgment debtor filed objections.
Appearing for the objector, his counsel, Farooq H. Naek, submitted that one of the bungalows up for sale, situated behind Avari Hotel, belonged to M/s Zardari Group (Pvt) Limited, in which Mr Zardari had no share at all. Directors of the company had occupied it for purposes of residential accommodation. The second bungalow, at Clifton, was formerly owned by Mr Zardari but it was now in possession of its prospective buyer. There was a court order in the field requiring Mr Zardari to execute a sale deed in favour of the buyer.
Sanam Bhutto, daughter of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, moved an application for transfer of her suit for possession of 70-Clifton, Karachi, from a senior civil judge’s court to the Sindh High Court. The suit seeks vacation of the premises by Ghinwa Bhutto, widow of the late prime minister’s son Mir Murtaza Bhutto. It was valued at less than Rs3 million and all suits below that amount stood transferred from the high court to subordinate courts following an amendment to a provision in the Civil Procedure Code dealing with the pecuniary jurisdiction of courts.
Advocate K. M. Nadeem, Ms Bhutto’s counsel, said in the application that the transferred suit involved important public figures and their appearance would attract immense public attention. Large crowds would gather to watch them and “would definitely cause law and order problem.” Besides, the parties being highly influential, the subordinate court might feel “embarrassment.” The high court, he said, was already seized of an administration suit filed by his client for distribution of the late prime minister’s assets among his heirs.
KIDNAPPING CASE: A division bench of the Sindh High Court rejected on Thursday the appeal of three men against the judgment of an anti-terrorism court sitting at Karachi in a kidnapping-for-ransom case, but commuted their death sentences to life sentences, add agencies.
The bench consisted of Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery.
According to the prosecution, appellants Hidayatullah Jan, Liaquat Ali and Shanwar Gul kidnapped the proprietor of a factory, Syed Karim Salman, in Federal B Area, Karachi on August 9, 2001 and demanded Rs6 million in ransom from his family.
During investigations, the police arrested Shanwar Gul, watchman of the hostage’s factory, on suspicion, who admitted to his involvement in the kidnapping case. He took the police to a house in Ittehad Town where the hostage was kept in confinement. The police arrested the other two kidnappers, Hidayatullah and Liaquat Ali.
They were tried in the ATC-4 at Karachi. The ATC judge sentenced them to death.
RIGHT OF WAY: No person, authority or owner can block a thoroughfare used by the public, submitted Additional Advocate-General Sindh Abbas Ali brushing aside a contention made by counsel for the Defence Housing Authority.
The AAG appeared before a division bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Mohammed Roshan Essani and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, on a petition filed by Ghulam Hussain, resident of Chanesar Goth.
He said citizens could not be deprived of their right of way and no one could be allowed to block a thoroughfare or road or track used by the public for years.
The counsel for the DHA submitted that the DHA had bought the land, on which road/passage existed, from the government of Sindh, so it was a property of the DHA. The DHA had the right to block the passage for security and other reasons, submitted the counsel.
Earlier, counsel for the petitioner contended that the passage was decades- old and residents of the adjoining areas of the DHA used it to go to the only graveyard in the locality.
He said the court had appointed a commissioner to inspect the passage and submit his report. According to the report, the barricade was such that even two persons could not cross it at one time and those carrying coffins had to climb the wall which caused inconvenience to people accompanying funeral processions.
After hearing both sides, the court reserved its judgment.
CARBOMB CASE: An anti-terrorism appellate bench of the High Court of Sindh admitted on Thursday an appeal for regular hearing filed by a convict in the US consulate carbomb case.
Sharib, the appellant/convict, challenged his conviction and life sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court sitting at Karachi on a charge of killing 14 persons and injuring 36 others. Twenty vehicles were damaged in the incident on June 14, 2002 when an unidentified suicide bomber rammed a Suzuki pickup against the concrete barricades of the US consulate in Karachi.
