KARACHI: SHC issues notice to US consulate in kidnapping case
By Shujaat Ali Khan
KARACHI, May 25: The Sindh High Court issued notice to the US consulate-general on Wednesday in a petition alleging kidnapping, confinement and beating up of a citizen by its personnel and seeking registration of a case against them. A division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Azizullah M. Memon also asked Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada to submit comments on behalf of the official respondents, including the police authorities who mistreated the petitioner, Mirza Aslam Beg, after the consulate personnel handed him over to them and who later refused to register his first information report.
The petitioner was on his way from his PECHS house to his Defence office on March 22 when his jeep slightly scratched a consulate vehicle. He was intercepted by the consulate staff in front of Awami Markaz, Shahrah-i-Faisal.
He disclosed his identity and expressed his regrets but was manhandled and taken to the consulate building on Abdullah Haroon Road.
The petitioner alleged that he was blindfolded, interrogated and beaten up at the consulate and later handed over to the Artillery Maidan police station where he was kept for another couple of hours. He was told by the police not to report the incident or move any court.
When he approached the Baloch Colony police station in whose jurisdiction he was kidnapped, the SHO refused to register the case. He brought the matter to the police high-ups’ notice but to no avail.
Contesting the petition, the AAG questioned its maintainability. He said the consulate and its personnel enjoyed diplomatic immunity and could not be impleaded in a writ petition. The bench asked him to submit his comments in writing and issued the consulate-general a notice for June 1.
BAN RELAXED: The Sindh High Court allowed on Wednesday the chief minister’s adviser on local government two months’ exemption from exit control and asked the federal and provincial attorneys why his name continued to appear on the list if he was not required in any case.
Adviser Waseem Akhtar has moved a petition through Advocate Rizwan Nadeem saying that he had been abroad several times and returned home voluntarily but his name had been placed on the ECL without justification. He had been issued no notice nor informed of the reason behind the travel ban imposed on him.
As the petition came up for hearing, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Maqbool Baqar asked federal government counsel Faisal Arab whether he had contacted the interior ministry to ascertain why the adviser was placed on the ECL.
The counsel said he had been assigned the case for the first time and sought a brief adjournment for seeking instructions. He informed the court after a while that the interior secretary was busy in a meeting and he would submit the requisite information at the next hearing. Additional Advocate-General Ahmed Pirzada said there was no case registered against the adviser by any provincial agency. The bench expressed its surprise why an important functionary with the rank of provincial minister continued to be treated casually by official agencies.
It allowed the adviser to travel abroad and asked the federal law officer to come out with a definite reply on the next date to be fixed after the summer vacation.
NAB ADMONISHED: The Sindh High Court asked officials of the National Accountability Bureau on Wednesday to maintain decorum and confirmed the interim bail granted to a NAB accused allegedly sought to be arrested from the court premises.
Advocates M. Ashraff Kazi and Jan Mohammad Khuhro submitted that petitioner Haji Adam Jukhio was arraigned by NAB in a case involving unlawful transfer and mutation of land by revenue officials.
About 330 acres of land at Deh Nagan, Tapo Songal, district west, Karachi, were alleged to have been fraudulently transferred by the officials. The petitioner, who owned 30 acres at Deh Nagan, had nothing to do with the transaction but was implicated by the authorities. The petitioner, the counsel said, approached the high court to obtain relief.
He was admitted to interim bail but a number of NAB personnel came to the court premises to arrest him when his petition was subsequently fixed for hearing.
The petitioner moved a contempt application against the NAB personnel. As the bail petition and the contempt case came up for hearing on Wednesday, NAB staff officer Colonel Mohammad Razzaq Zia filed an affidavit and tendered an unconditional apology.
NAB deputy prosecutor-general Shaukat Hussain Zubedi said the respondents had apologized unconditionally at the very first opportunity and the notices against them be discharged.
Accepting the apology, a division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Azizullah M. Memon asked the bureau and its officials to be more careful and maintain the decorum of the court.
The pre-arrest bail granted to petitioner Adam Jukhio was confirmed in the sum of Rs1 million. His counsel said he was innocent and there was no evidence to connect him with the commission of the alleged offence.
