KARACHI: SHC asks FM to submit comments in contempt case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, July 13: The Sindh High Court again asked the foreign minister, the foreign secretary and the cabinet secretary to file their comments on a petition alleging contempt of court by them for non-compliance with its order respecting a businessman in American custody.
Businessman Saifullah Paracha went missing on July 5, 2003 while on his way from Karachi to Bangkok to meet his American business partner on a visa sent by the latter.
His wife, Farhat Paracha, moved a petition for his recovery and production, which was disposed of on Sept 9, 2003, in terms of the petitioner’s statement that she had received a message from her husband through the International Committee of Red Cross that he was in US custody and was being kept at the US air force base at Bagram, near Kabul.
The court, however, directed the federal government authorities concerned to protect his interests and welfare. Mr Paracha was, meanwhile, transferred to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay. He has been accused of laundering money for Al Qaeda for smuggling arms into the United States.
Following US President George Bush’s announcement that the Guantanamo Bay prison would be closed down and that the prisoners would be repatriated to their home countries, Mrs Paracha moved a contempt petition against the foreign minister, the foreign secretary and the cabinet secretary through Advocate Nisar A. Mujahid.
She alleged that the authorities concerned had done nothing to comply with the court order to protect her husband’s welfare. She apprehended that Saifullah Paracha might not be freed and sent home and might instead be tried in the United States like their son, Uzair Paracha, who had been convicted in the US for trying to bring an Al Qaeda operative to attack US installations.
As the contempt plea came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Mohammad Afzal Soomro, Deputy Attorney-General Akhtar Ali Mehmood submitted that the three state functionaries had been implicated by name while he represented the federal government.
The petition was misconceived as the three alleged contemners had nothing to do personally to protect the detainee’s welfare.
He said two lawyers representing the foreign ministry and the cabinet had come from Islamabad to answer any allegations. Besides, the petitioner had moved a petition for leave to appeal the SHC order she was relying upon in the Supreme Court as the order did not call for Paracha’s production.Advocate Nisar Mujahid submitted that the petitioner was free to pursue parallel remedies.
The SHC order had to be complied with by the federal authorities. The state operated through ministries and divisions and their functionaries. Observing that the state functionaries were responsible for complying with any direction to the government, the bench ordered that the respondents should submit comments on their behalf and the deputy attorney-general on behalf of the federal government by July 25.
