23 December 2004	Thursday	10 Ziqa'ad 1425

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KARACHI, Dec 22: The provincial government has not allowed any person to employ armed personal guards or travel in vehicles with tinted glasses, the Sindh High Court was informed on Wednesday.

In a statement to a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, which is seized of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari's petition for armed guards and coloured glasses in his vehicle, Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan said the directions sought by the petitioner were illegal and the impugned letter addressed to him by the home department was in conformity with the law.

The statement was submitted on behalf of the provincial government as the petition came up for hearing on Wednesday. The bench, which granted Mr Zardari interim relief on Dec 17, adjourned the hearing to Dec 29 due to non-appearance of the petitioner, who is pleading his case personally but was under arrest till late in the afternoon.

The motor vehicles law and rules, the statement said, required glasses of every vehicle to be affixed and maintained in such a manner as it 'ensures complete transparency and allows the driver a clear vision to the front and sides and, through the mirror, to the rear'. Allowing one individual to colour his vehicle's glasses militated against the constitutional guarantee of equality before law.

In one instance, it said, a minister's car was intercepted for having tinted glasses. A fine was imposed and the vehicle challenged. A Supreme Court judge's request for coloured glasses was declined. The federal government also enforced the ban on tinted glasses.