KARACHI: SHC summons officials, wants firm statements - Whereabouts of two detained men
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 24: The Sindh High Court has summoned the federal interior secretary and the provincial home secretary again and the defence secretary for the first time on Dec 8
to make 'complete and categoric' statements in respect of the whereabouts of two detainees.
The interior and home secretaries were to appear on Wednesday and a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, refrained from issuing them show cause notices for contempt at the request of Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad and Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan.
The law officers said both the secretaries were busy 'on account of a very important meeting in Islamabad'. They could not, however, give details about the meeting and who had convened it and when. The bench issued them notices for Nov 24 on Nov 4.
The defence secretary was also issued a notice on Wednesday following a statement by DAG Zaki Mohammad that the ministry of defence controlled several agencies and he 'may also be directed to investigate and obtain reports from the agencies operating under the ministry'.
DAG Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui and AAG Sarwar Khan had earlier informed the bench that no federal or provincial agency was involved in the alleged arrest and detention of Abdul Karim Mehmood and Maulvi Hidayatullah.
About Mehmood, his petitioner wife Jamila Khatoon's counsel, Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, submitted that he was mistaken for Abu Moasab Arochi, a Kuwaiti nephew of Khalid Mohammad Shaikh who carries a cash award of $10 million announced by the US for his arrest. The detainee had since been sent abroad, according to the counsel.
According to the petitioner, her husband was a Pakistani resident of Turbat, though he visited Kuwait frequently for business. He was picked up from his house in the Federal 'B' Area on June 12 along with Jundullah activists arrested for alleged involvement in an ambush on the Karachi corps commander.
Ms Khatamunnisa alleged through Advocate Saify Ali Khan that her son, Maulvi Hidayatullah, prayer leader at a mosque, was arrested from his house in Usmania Colony, Gulbahar, on Aug 7 and had not been seen or heard of since. No case was found registered against him at any police station.
TRIPLE MURDER CASE: A division bench of the Sindh High Court heard on Wednesday appeals in a triple murder case involving the only daughter of the deceased couple and the boy she wanted to marry.
Asma Nawab and Farhan are alleged to have killed her father Nawab Khan, her mother and her brother in complicity with Jawad allegedly to facilitate their marriage about five years ago.
They were tried by a sessions court and sentenced to death. They challenged their conviction and sentences in the high court. The division bench, which consisted of Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, heard arguments advanced by Farhan's counsel, Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Abbasi.
PLEA WITHDRAWN: Another division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim, disposed of as withdrawn a writ petition moved by Gul Mohammad Hajano, former executive officer (education), against his transfer and posting of a district management group officer as his successor.
