KARACHI, June 5: The Sindh High Court asked the federal interior secretary on Tuesday to show cause on June 20 why he should not be tried for contempt for not producing the material on the basis of which two detainees were being kept in custody under the Security Act.
Dr Ali Raza Zaidi was produced before a division bench comprising Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Munib Ahmed Khan by the Karachi Central Prison authorities while Syed Mumtaz Hussain was brought by officials from an unknown detention cell.
Both were allowed to see members of their families at the SHC registrar’s office. Their counsel, Haider Imam Rizvi, was asked to record their statements in respect of their arrest and detention and produce them on June 20.
Both the detainees were deported by the UAE authorities from Dubai where Dr Raza had gone looking for a job and Syed Mumtaz was employed as a computer engineer.
Raza was taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency on arrival at the Karachi airport on June 19, 2006, and Mumtaz was detained on July 3.
Mumtaz was detained by the immigration authorities, who allowed his wife and children to go home.
Their custody was first denied by the provincial and federal agencies but later acknowledged by federal authorities.
A contempt case against an FIA official who denied Raza’s return to Pakistan is pending before another division bench.
When the federal interior ministry stated that the detainees had been arrested under the Security of Pakistan Act, 1952, and had been produced before a federal review board, the court directed it to place before it the grounds that warranted their preventive custody.
The order was not complied with on successive dates and the court decided on Tuesday to issue a show-cause notice to the interior secretary, Syed Kamal Shah.
Both detainees would again be produced on June 20. They were allowed to file affidavits in respect of their incarceration and production before the federal review board, which is said to have sanctioned their custody under the Security Act.
MILK PRICE: A division bench of High Court of Sindh comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed on Tuesday adjourned the proceedings till June 8 in a petition challenging the retail price of milk notified by the City District Government of Karachi, adds APP.
The bench adjourned the petition preferred by Hafiz Nisar, President of the All Karachi Milk Retailers Association, moved against milk retail prices as Rs28 and Rs26 wholesale, which were notified by the city government on April 20, 2006.
It was submitted in the petition that the city government was not authorised to fix milk prices and it should be done by the Sindh government.
AMENITY PLOT: A division bench of the High Court of Sindh comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Muneeb Ahmed Khan on Monday issued notices to the district coordination officer of Karachi, the town police officer of New Karachi Town and the controller concerned of the Karachi Building Control Authority for June 18.
The bench was hearing a constitutional petition filed by a resident, Rauf Qadri, who moved the court against the alleged illegal occupation of an amenity plot measuring 10,000 square yards in Sector 5-E, new Karachi.
According to the petitioner, the land in dispute was a green belt as per the original master plan. A portion of this land had been used as a football ground by the youth of the area for more than three decades. Another cricket field was also an old one providing healthy activities to the youth.
