KARACHI: Hearing of Benazir’s plea against FIA put off
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 1: A division bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s petition questioning the request made by the Federal Investigation Agency to the Island of Jersey for information on matters pending against the former prime minister.
Advocate Farooq H. Naek submitted that the impugned FIA request was mala fide. The agency had no authority to seek information, particularly in the absence of any treaty for mutual exchange of material. Besides, politically-motivated cases and investigations pending against the ex-PM had come to an end after the promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui and Deputy Prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau Shafaat Nabi Khan Sherwani requested the bench, consisted of Justices Rehmat Hussain Jafferi and Mahmood Alam Rizvi, to allow them time to seek instructions and submit comments. Granting the request, the bench adjourned further hearing to Nov 12.
NA membership
Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, meanwhile, fixed Nov 12 as the date of hearing of Ms Bhutto’s petition for membership of the National Assembly on a seat reserved for women.
The CJ has constituted a five-member bench headed by him to hear the petition. Other members of the bench are Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Mushir Alam, Rehmat Hussain Jafferi and Faisal Arab.
FIR plea
A district and sessions judge on Thursday asked the additional advocate-general of Sindh to submit his comments on an application filed by the Pakistan People’s Party for the registration of a separate FIR on the Oct 18 Karsaz carnage by Nov 5.
The adjournment order was issued by the district and sessions judge, East, Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan, in spite of vehement opposition by the counsel for PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, Shahadat Awan, who argued that it was the right of the petitioner to get the FIR lodged without any delay.
Mr Awan insisted that the Bahadurabad police station house officer should have filed his comments on Thursday because the matter under consideration was “very simple”.
However, Additional Advocate-General of Sindh Ahmed Pirzada said a notice of the petition had been received by the SHO on Wednesday evening. He added that “in the interest of justice” the matter should be adjourned to Nov 5, when he would file his comments on behalf of the Bahadurabad police station house officer.
The SHO was directed to appear in court on the next date of hearing with the relevant record.
The PPP counsel stated in the petition that Ms Bhutto, being a former prime minister and chairperson of the PPP, was coming home on Oct 18 when about three million people hailing from different parts of the country had gathered to welcome her at Karachi airport and on both sides of the roads that she was to travel on.
The roads were packed with party workers and supporters, but as the procession reached Karsaz on Sharea Faisal the streetlights were switched off and in the meantime two powerful bombs exploded, killing 138 people and seriously injuring 550 others.
The counsel stated that the darkness prevented the security personnel from clearly identifying the attackers. She said it was a conspiracy to assassinate her, but police and security personnel saved her life.
Mr Awan stated that Syed Qaim Ali Shah, president of the Sindh chapter of the PPP, went to the police station concerned on Oct 21 and presented a written complaint to the SHO for the registration of an FIR, but the police refused to do so and told him that the case was already registered.
He said it was a direct attack on the life of the petitioner by what he described as the enemies of democracy to eliminate her, adding that the registration as per her statement was her legal right.
He said the aggrieved person was Benazir Bhutto but the police did not even bother to approach her for recording her or any other PPP leader’s statement in the case under Section 154 of the CrPC, adding that it was a cognizable offence for which the police were bound to register the FIR.
Describing the violent events of Oct 18, an application written by PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Oct 20 to the Bahadurabad police station house officer says: “This attracts offences under the Pakistan Penal Code, Anti-Terrorism Act as well as the Explosive Act resulting in the death of nearly 140 and injuring more than 350 innocent Pakistanis.”
The Gulshan Town police officer told the court on Thursday that they “had sent the application of the petitioner to the home department through the CCPO and they have now received an opinion of the law department through the home department.”
District Attorney Abdul Khaliq Nadeem also appeared in court on Thursday.
