KARACHI: Federal attorney told to submit ISI denial in detention case
By Shujaat Ali Khan
KARACHI, March 22: A Sindh High Court division bench asked a federal attorney to submit a statement in writing containing the Inter-Services Intelligence denial that an alleged detainee was not in its custody. Federal government standing counsel Ziauddin Nasir informed the bench as it took up a petition against the arrest and detention of Dr Safdar Sarki, a Pakistani American who is secretary-general of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, that the alleged detainee was not in ISI custody.
The petitioner’s counsel, Syed Ghulam Shah, who had stated on the last date that according to information received by him, Dr Sarki was being kept in Napier Barracks, Karachi, under the ISI watch, said a verbal denial by the federal attorney was not sufficient. The bench, which consisted of Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Gulzar Ahmed, agreed and asked the attorney to submit a written statement on April 5, the next date of hearing.
Advocate Shah also said that according to petitioner Munir Sarki, the detainee’s brother, Dr Sarki was manhandled and dragged away from a public place on Feb 24 by DSP Mohammad Aslam. But the counter-affidavit in denial of the allegation had been filed by SP Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam. Because of the discrepancy in name and rank, he did not know whether the deponent was the same officer who picked up Dr Sarki. The bench observed that this matter too would come up for discussion on April 5.
The bench took a serious notice of the apathy of the federal ministries concerned in tracing the whereabouts of the alleged detainee when the federal attorney informed it that no written response had been received from the interior ministry or any other agency. It asked the attorney to take up the matter with the attorney-general without delay.
A number of adjournments had been sought and granted to the attorney for seeking information but no written reply had been received so far. The matter involved the liberty of an individual, it observed.
RAUF SASOLI: The bench also adjourned a petition seeking production and recovery of Abdul Rauf Sasoli, deputy secretary-general of Jamhoori Watan Party, to April 5 with a direction to the federal government counsel and Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan to file written comments on the allegations made by the petitioner.
According to the petitioner, Mr Sasoli was whisked away by five uniformed and plainclothes policemen as he came out of the Safari Park, Karachi, on Feb 26. Nothing had been heard about him since.
Advocate Noor Naz Agha, the petitioner’s counsel, informed the bench that notices in the petition were issued on March 9 and eye-witness to the arrest of Mr Sasoli, Saeed Brohi, was also whisked away on March 10 along with JWP vice-president Salim Baloch, who was pursuing the petition. Habeas corpus petitions would be filed for their production also, the counsel said.
The bench told the federal attorney and the AAG that verbal statements would not do where liberty of individuals was involved. They must submit written comments on the allegations. Even if a person had not been picked up by police or agencies, it was the state’s responsibility to ascertain his whereabouts. Once a person had been reported missing, it was for the law-enforcement agencies to come into action to trace him, the bench observed.
AKHTAR MENGAL: Meanwhile, another division bench, comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal, adjourned a contempt petition moved by former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal till March 28 at the request of the petitioner’s counsel.
The ex-CM, who heads the Balochistan National Party, has complained that despite an SHC order for removal of his name from the exit control list, the interior ministry has clamped a ban on his travel abroad. He sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the ministry officials concerned.
According to a federal attorney, Mr Mengal was involved in a 2003 murder case but the petitioner’s counsel said he was discharged after preliminary police inquiry.
PRISONER’S SHIFTING: The division bench, comprising Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Gulzar Ahmed, expressed its displeasure over the shifting of engineer Wali Mohammad Rahimoon from the Central Prison, Karachi, and asked the AAG to state reasons for his transfer on March 30, the next date of hearing.
The bench was hearing an application filed by the wife of the engineer, who had been booked in a number of cases by the police. She said she was informed of her husband’s shifting when she went to the prison to meet him. The bench wondered whether Mr Rahimoon was a terrorist or anti-state criminal and asked the AAG to explain the position in writing.
TRAVEL BAN: The bench gave the federal attorney a last opportunity to inform it of the reasons behind placing the name of Dr Fawad Mirza, director of Mirza Sugar Mills, on the exit control list and adjourned the hearing of a petition challenging the interior ministry decision to April 5.
Bilquis Mirza, wife of Dr Fawad Mirza, submitted through Advocate Zahid F. Ebrahim that the director had sent several letters to the interior ministry to let him know why his name had been included in the ECL, but had failed to elicit any response. The ministry was not prepared to divulge the reasons for curbing his movement.
The bench asked the federal attorney to find out the reasons on the previous date, but he again sought time on Wednesday for obtaining the necessary information.
