KARACHI: SHC seeks information on amnesty law implementation
By Shujaat Ali Khan
KARACHI, March 4: The Sindh High Court asked the federal government and the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday to inform it by March 21 of the measures taken by them to give effect to the provisions of the National Reconciliation Ordinance and the latest Supreme Court order on it in respect of cases and proceedings pending against PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.
The order was passed after Attorney-General Malik Muhammad Qayyum, Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui and NAB prosecutor-general Dr Danishwar Malik gave an undertaking, in response to a petition moved by Mr Zardari, that the NRO provisions would be duly implemented. The AG told a division bench comprising Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Syed Mahmood Alam that the NRO, which is a protected law, was promulgated to create an atmosphere of reconciliation. References and proceedings initiated after October 12, 1999, were to be terminated under the ordinance, which was issued on October 3, 2007. A Supreme Court interim order on petitions challenging it caused ambiguity but the latest SC order asked all state functionaries to implement its provisions.
Appearing on court notice, Advocate-General Dr M. Farogh Naseem supported the AG’s stance and said the SC order was binding on the executive and courts.
Representing the petitioner, Advocate Farooq H. Naek sought the disposal of the petition with a direction for quashment of all pending cases and proceedings in the country and abroad. He said the mere fact that the trial accountability courts seized of the seven references against Mr Zardari were outside the SHC’s territorial jurisdiction should not stand in the way of a clear-cut direction as in an earlier case challenging the then attorney-general’s 1998 request to the Swiss authorities for assistance, the SC had asked the SHC to adjudicate the matter on merit.
The law officers said applications had already been moved on behalf of the petitioner for termination of proceedings before the trial courts at Rawalpindi and Attock and they were fixed for hearing on Wednesday. They said the NAB had formulated guidelines to deal with cases under the NRO in accordance with the law and the SC order and there would be no departure from them. The bench observed that the applications should be disposed of by the trial courts within the shortest possible span of time. Mr Naek called for swift action in conformity with the letter and spirit of the NRO.
Parliament supreme
Talking to reporters after the proceedings, Mr Naek, who is a member of Senate and PPP executive committee, said while his party believed in the independence of the judiciary, it also stood for the supremacy of parliament.
Disagreeing with the proposal that only an executive order was required to restore the superior court judges, he said it was for parliament to work out modalities. Inter-linked with the restoration of the deposed judges was the fate of incumbent judges who had taken an oath under the Third Schedule to the Constitution, he added.
Attorney-General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said being a member of the SC Bar Association, he would not offer any comments. About the pending references, he said the NRO was protected from the operation of Article 89 and had not lapsed on expiry of four months in February 2008.
‘Environment-friendly vehicles’
The Sindh High Court gave the traffic police another two months to streamline the checking of vehicle fitness and grant of licences for public transport vehicles, particularly auto rickshaws.
A division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui also directed the police to apprise it of the measures being taken to promote environment-friendly, CNG-operated vehicles. Petitioner-lawyer Islam Hussain submitted earlier that use of diesel, want of fitness and absence of silencers were the main causes of air and noise pollution in the city. He said emission of smoke by old vehicles plying on the city roads without any regard for their roadworthiness was polluting the atmosphere and causing damage to the public health.
Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan, city district government counsel Manzoor Ahmed and advocate Masood Shah of the traffic police informed the bench that new licences for two-stroke rickshaws have been completely stopped while existing such vehicles were being phased out. The petition would now come up after submission of compliance report.
Costs upheld
Justice Muhammad Moosa K. Leghari of the Supreme Court, meanwhile, dismissed two appeals questioning SHC orders awarding costs against two non-governmental organizations for filing frivolous petitions. NGO Struggle Trust moved a petition assailing construction of a commercial building in Nazimabad in ‘gross violation’ of the sanctioned plan and rules and regulations. The allegation was found to be totally baseless and a division bench asked the petitioner NGO to pay Rs50,000 to the SHC Employees Welfare Fund and another Rs50,000 to the builder for causing harassment.
Another NGO, Karachi Watch and Care Society, alleged gross violations in the construction of a building in Garden West. An SHC bench dismissed its petition as unfounded with costs amounting to Rs50,000. Turning down its appeal, Justice Moosa Leghari, however, gave it two weeks to pay the amount of costs.
Contesting the appeals on behalf of the respondent Karachi Building Control Authority, Advocate Shahid Jamil Khan submitted that the petitions were moved only to ‘blackmail’ the builders and harass the KBCA officials concerned. The petitioners, he said, also wasted the court’s time by moving frivolous petitions without bothering to ascertain facts.
