KARACHI: Govt denies trader’s detention by agencies
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 19: No federal government agency arrested or detained businessman Saifullah Paracha, Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad told a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.
If any government agency had held the missing businessman in custody or knew about or could ascertain his whereabouts, the court order of Aug 15 would have certainly been complied with, the law officer assured the bench, which consisted of Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Gulzar Ahmed. He also produced a statement on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority saying that the organization had nothing to do with the embarkation or disembarkation of individual passengers.
Federal government standing counsel Syed Ziauddin Nasir said according to the Federal Investigation Agency and Thai Airways records, Mr Paracha took a direct flight from Karachi to Bangkok on July 5. A lawyer appearing for the airline endorsed the statement and the passengers’ list earlier submitted by the FIA.
Petitioner Farhat Paracha’s counsel, Nisar A. Mujahid, produced an Aug 9 CNN report transcript saying that Mr Paracha was arrested at the Karachi airport on July 5 and had since been in police custody. In a statement submitted on the last date, the Sindh police, however, denied having arrested the businessman.
The counsel said while the airline had submitted a list of passengers who boarded the flight, there was no record of the passengers who disembarked at the Bangkok airport. According to information belatedly received by the petitioner, Mrs Paracha, he said, the businessman’s name was included in the exit control list and he could not have been cleared for travel as stated by the FIA.
Adjourning the hearing to Aug 26, the bench asked the Thai Airways counsel to produce a list of passengers who arrived from the July 5 flight (TG-502) at the Bangkok airport. It also asked DAG Zaki Mohammad to ascertain whether Mr Paracha’s name was there on the exit control list. The manager and senior air traffic controller of the Karachi airport were asked to submit their statements about the takeoff of the flight on July 5. It repeated notices to other respondents, including the Thai diplomats.
ORDER UPHELD: Officials cannot be sued by designation, a division bench of the Sindh High Court held on Tuesday.
The appellants had challenged a single judge’s order against impleading District West and Baldia Town civil and police officers as defendants by designation. Dismissing the appeal, the bench upheld the order.
Contesting the appeal earlier, Additional Advocate-General Qazi Khalid Ali submitted that only a natural person, body corporate or corporate sole could be sued under the law. Officials sued by designation were neither natural persons nor body corporate not corporate sole.
He relied upon a 1971 high court judgment in the case entitled Secretary S&R Government of West Pakistan and Others versus Fazal Ali Khan in support of his argument.
The bench, which consisted of Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, asked the appellants to comply with the requirements of law.
APPEAL DISMISSED: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro, on Tuesday dismissed an appeal of Mohammad Saeed and Abdul Waseem against death sentence and upheld the trial court judgment in the double murder case, adds PPI.
The appellants were sentenced to death with a fine of Rs200,000 each on April 30, 2001 by an anti-terrorism court on the charge of killing a retired DSP, Sadiq Hussain Shah, and his son Abid Hussain Shah, a police constable, in Malir. The court also awarded them seven-year rigorous imprisonment each for keeping illegal weapons.
According to the prosecution, complainant Athar Hussain lodged an FIR in Al-Falah police station on Feb 22, 2001 that he received a phone call that his father and brother, who had gone in vehicle No 6525 to the police station, were shot and wounded. He stated that he rushed to the spot where both of them were lying dead. The appellants were arrested with the help of people.
Advocate Amir Mansoob appeared for the appellants, and assistant advocate-general Habib Ahmed represented the state.
