KARACHI, Dec 8: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday referred to the chief justice for consideration by another bench a petition challenging the re-arrest of 'doctor brothers' under the Anti-Terrorist Act.
The petition, moved by the wives of Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed through Advocate M. Ilyas Khan, was assigned to a division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim, but the latter declined to hear it for being the administrative judge of the Karachi division anti-terrorism courts.
The doctors are facing trial for complicity with Jundullah activists who ambushed the Karachi corps commander's convoy in June. They were released on bail by a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Dec 2, but were re arrested and detained for 30 days under Section 11-EEE of the Anti-Terrorist Act for affiliation with Hizbul Tehreer, Al Qaeda and Jundullah.
According to an order passed by the Sindh home secretary, the arrests were made to prevent them from committing any act of terrorism. The petition alleged that the doctors had been arrested to circumvent a high court order for their release on bail.
An activist, an office-bearer or a collaborator of a banned terrorist outfit first, it said, must first be notified under Section 11-EE of the ATA before being arrested under Section 11-EEE.
No action had been taken against the detainees under Section 11-EE. They were earlier charged with harbouring and treating Jundullah activists without informing police. Now they have also been accused of complicity with Al Qaeda and Hizbul Tehreer.
DETAINEES: The federal and provincial home secretaries categorically expressed their ministries' ignorance about the whereabouts of two detainees on Wednesday and the Sindh High Court disposed of two constitutional petitions agitating their alleged arrest and detention with an advice to the petitioners to seek their remedy under the law by lodging first information reports with the police.
Federal interior secretary Tariq Mahmood and Sindh home secretary retired brigadier G.M. Mohatram informed a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, that no agency or force under the control and supervision of their ministry and department had arrested or detained either of the alleged detainees. Nor had they any information on their whereabouts.
Deputy Attorney-General Sajjad Ali Shah and Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan, who had already categorically denied the alleged arrest of Abdul Karim Mehmood and Moulvi Hidayatullah by any federal or provincial agency, sought the dismissal of the petitions as the court could not make any direction to any authority in exercise of its constitutional jurisdiction.
The bench advised the petitioners, Jamila Khatoon and Khatamunnisa, to seek their remedy under the law by lodging complaints with the police and disposed of the petitions.
Ms Jamila submitted through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed that her husband, A.K. Mehmood, was picked up in June from his house in Federal 'B' Area along with Jundullah activists in the mistaken belief that he was Abu Moasab Arochi, nephew of Khalid Mohammed Shaikh who carries a reward of $ 10 million announced by the US government for his arrest.
He was not a Kuwaiti but a Pakistani national, though he visited Kuwait on business trips. Her counsel claimed that he had been flown abroad for interrogation. Ms Khatamunnisa alleged through Advocate Saify Ali Khan that her son, Moulvi Hidayatullah, was taken into custody from his house in Usmania Colony, Gulbahar, in August.
Disposing of another petition, the bench directed the police to expedite search for a kidnapped boy. Petitioner Hakiman stated that her son, Ramzan Ali, was whisked away by unknown kidnappers from the office of Gulshan-i-Iqbal town nazim. She had lodged an FIR but the police had taken no action so far.
CDGK RESTRAINED: The Sindh High Court restrained the city district government and other defendants from taking any coercive action against a club contractor till the next date of hearing of his plea.
Malik Javed submitted in his plaint filed through Advocate Syed Sami Ahmed that he was hired by the KDA Officers Association to construct and develop a club on 15,000 square yards of plot allotted to it by the (defunct) KMC.
He spent about Rs 7.5 million on construction of the club building and development and maintenance of its lawns for holding marriage functions. In exchange, he was to receive 10 per cent of the amount received from booking and all the profits from catering.
While two suits instituted by him and the KDA Officers Association, in which the high court has passed stay orders, were still pending, the city nazim announced the city district government's plan to cancel the allotment of land made to the association and use the premises, known as Sabzazaar as an amenity plot. Issuing notices to the defendants for Dec 15, Justice Ataur Rehman restrained them from taking coercive measures against the plaintiff.
