KARACHI: SHC issues notices to education authorities : Plea on poor upkeep of Liaquat National Library
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 25: A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab issued notices to the provincial and federal education authorities in a petition agitating the poor maintenance of the Liaquat National Library and seeking adequate funds for it.
Petitioner-lawyer Islam Hussain submitted that the library was once a premier institution using rare books and manuscripts. It was first transferred to the National Library, Islamabad, and subsequently to the provincial government but it continued to suffer neglect. The overflowing sewage water was destroying a valuable collection of books. The offices of two federal organizations and a rest house had been shifted to the library premises.
The petitioner requested the court to order vacation of the library premises by other organization. The respondents should be directed to transfer the library to the University of Karachi for appointment of qualified staff and proper supervisions. Sufficient funds should be allocated for the upkeep of the library as an autonomous institution under the overall supervision of the university, he prayed.
Pemra law
The division bench, meanwhile, adjourned the hearing of petitions challenging amendments to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance to a date in office after reprimanding the petitioners for lack of interest and seriousness.
The petitions mainly challenged the June ordinance for allowing seizure of equipment and sealing of television channel premises for violation of Pemra directives. The bench asked the petitioners to specify the provisions that violated Article 19 of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression and explain how they impinged on the fundamental right. The petitioners said they would file amended petitions.
As the petitions came up for hearing on Tuesday, Advocate Ismail Memon sought more time to amend the petition moved by Sindh Bar Council members Salahuddin Gandapur and Mohammad Aqil. Advocate Adnan Karim requested adjournment on behalf of Advocate Shahadat Awan of the People’s Lawyers Forum.
The bench expressed its displeasure at the petitioners’ conduct. The chief justice, who had warned lawyers against delaying disposal of cases at the start of the current judicial year, deplored that the petitioners’ counsel were not prepared to argue the petitions or filed amended petitions even after long adjournments. The petitions are pending since June.
The federation and the authority said in their replies through Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Siddiqui and Advocates Kashif Hanif and Nasir Ayaz that there was no provision repugnant to the Constitution in the new ordinance. The provisions of the June ordinance had not been enforced and talks were in progress between the TV channels and the Pemra representatives for a code of conduct. That was why no channel had come forward to question the new ordinance and petitions had been filed by individuals who were not aggrieved.
Plea dismissed
A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jaffery on Tuesday dismissed a former police inspector’s appeal against his conviction in a kidnapping for ransom case and upheld the trial court order.Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch sentenced former policeman Fahim Ahmed Farooqui to life imprisonment in the case on Feb 22, 2007, adds PPI.
Farooqui, along with co-accused Altaf Hussain, were charged with kidnapping Fahad Hamdani, son of a banker, from Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sept 30, 2005 and demanding a ransom of Rs800,000.
However, police recovered Fahad without the ransom’s payment.
Farooqui approached the Sindh High Court, saying that he had been falsely implicated in the case.
The applicant’s counsel said the trial court had not appreciated the evidence in accordance with the law. But the state counsel opposed the acquittal appeal and said the prosecution had proved their case before the trial court beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The division bench, after hearing arguments of both counsel, dismissed the acquittal appeal and upheld the conviction order.
The first trial of the convict was conducted by an anti-terrorism court headed by Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti in 2006, who during the trial observed that kidnapping for ransom charges could not be proved by the prosecution. Thinking that the offence did not fall under the Anti-Terrorism Act, he sent the case to an anti-corruption court.
The anti-corruption court, however, sent the case to the Sindh High Court for guidance regarding the power of an anti-terrorism court to transfer a case. In January 2007, the Sindh High Court set aside the ATC order regarding the transfer of the trial and remanded back the case to the ATC for its disposal in accordance with the law.
