KARACHI: Govt told to submit remarks in detention case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 3: A division bench of the Sindh High Court asked the defence ministry and Corp-V of the Pakistan Army on Wednesday to submit their comments on a petition alleging that the Jamhoori Watan Party leader, Abdul Rauf Sasoli, was being kept in custody by the military intelligence officials.
Petitioner Hazoor Bux Sasoli, brother of the alleged detainee, submitted through Advocate Noor Naz Agha that the JWP deputy secretary-general was picked up by three uniformed and two plainclothes policemen while coming out of Safari Park, Karachi, on Feb 3. He was whisked away in his own car and had not been seen or heard of since.
The Gulshan Town police officer and the SHOs of Sachal and Gulistan-i-Jauhar police stations denied that they or their subordinates had anything to do with the alleged arrest. Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan said no provincial agency was involved in the arrest or detention. Federal government standing counsel produced a letter signed by an assistant judge advocate-general of the Pakistan Army, saying that the detainee was not in the custody of any agency working under the Karachi-based Corps-V. The counsel said he was awaiting a reply from the ministry of defence.
The petitioner stated that according to his information, the JWP leader was handed by the unnamed police officials to the military intelligence. His counsel said the officials might not be working under the local military authorities and that the terse reply from the assistant judge advocate-general was not sufficient. She requested the bench, which consisted of Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Gulzar Ahmed, to seek detailed comments from the respondents.
The bench asked the defence ministry through its secretary and the Corps Commander through the JAG branch to submit para-wise comments by May 18 when the petition would again come up for hearing. It also issued notices to the respondent for the same date in another petition alleging that Saeed Baloch, who was with Rauf Sasoli at the time of his arrest and saw him picked up by the cops, also disappeared on March 10. Advocate Noor Naz Agha said Saeed Baloch was the only eye-witness of the incident and he had also been picked up by the military intelligence.
CUSTODIAL DEATH: Justice Zawar Husain Jaffery, meanwhile, continued his inquiry into the death of Engineerr Hasan Gichki, a Balochistan National Party activist and Central Prison inmate under trial in two narcotics cases. Dr Ghulam Mustafa Memon and Dr Shankar Lal, histopathologists serving with the Liaquat University of Health Sciences, Jamshoro, produced their report. According to the report, the viscera and other organs of the deceased were those of a healthy man and he apparently suffered from no major ailment or injury.
Representing the deceased’s relatives, Advocates Syed Ghulam Shah and Wahab Baloch said the histopathology report pertained to the first post-mortem while their case was entirely based on the second post-mortem carried out by special team appointed by the provincial government at their request. Dr Ghulam Ali and Dr Pervez Makhdoom, who conducted the second post-mortem, said they could not submit a final report until the second histopathological test findings were available. The health secretary was directed to facilitate the second histopathological report promptly.
The inquiry commission, meanwhile, rejected an application moved by Advocate Ghulam Shah for suspension of the jail officials named as accused in the murder case lodged by Qambar Ali Gichki, Hasan Gichki’s cousin, with the New Town police station. Since most of the witnesses were prisoners, they could not possibly speak out against the jail authorities. Justice Jaffery said there was no provision under which he could seek suspension of the accused officials.
The commission also rejected a plea made by M. Ilyas Khan, counsel for the accused officials, for recall of witnesses who have testified so far for cross-examination. The accused were free to file counter-affidavits, if they so desired by May 5, Justice Jaffery observed and adjourned further proceedings to May 4 for statements of the investigation officer probing the murder case and the police official who registered the case.
OUTDOOR ADVERTIZING: Another division bench, comprising Justices Rahmat Hussain Jaferi and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, directed the outdoor advertisers to submit their licences and dues’ payment receipts to the city district government’s executive officer for local taxes. If the documents were found in order by the EDO, the petitioner advertisers could continue to display the hoardings and billboards put up by them till June 30, after which the CDGK could act in accordance with the new policy formulated by it.
Scores of petitioners had complained that they were issued licences by the CDGK and paid all their dues as required by the government. Yet their billboards were being dismantled by the CDGK officials.
CDGK counsel Manzoor Ahmed said many of the petitioners had expired licences or were in default of payment of their dues. They had not installed hoardings in accordance with the rules. The city district government wanted to streamline the outdoor advertising police and remove gaudy billboards that offended aesthetic sense and obstructed traffic.
The bench asked the petitioners to submit their licences and payment receipts to the EDO (local taxes) for scrutiny. If found in order, their billboards would not be removed till June 30.
STRUCTURE SEALED: The third floor of an under-construction building on plot number 203/2-B, Garden East, has, meanwhile, been sealed in compliance of an order passed by Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui.
