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KARACHI, Aug 22: The Sindh High Court directed the provincial police on Friday to completely abolish adjudication of civil and criminal cases and of matrimonial disputes by the so-called jirgas, take action against those holding jirgas and provide protection to their victims.
There is no room for private dispensation of justice in the law and the Constitution, a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Justice Khalid Ali Z. Qazi observed while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Shafqat Ali Shah Masoomi on behalf of Saira Jatoi and Junaid Soomro, whose free-will marriage was dissolved by a jirga held at Shikarpur by the local chiefs of Jatoi and Soomro tribes.
The couple fled to Karachi and approached the high court for protection. They said they might be killed as ‘karo kari’. The bench ordered police protection and asked the home department and the police what action was being taken against the holders of jirgas and the jirga system itself. It pointed out that disposal of cases by jirgas had already been declared illegal and unconstitutional as it amounted to usurpation of a basic function of the state.
Home secretary Mohammad Arif, police inspector-general Salahuddin Babar Khattak and other officers appeared on Friday in response to a court notice.
They said a case had been registered against those responsible for holding the jirga in the instant case. No complainant came forward to lodge a complaint against the tribal chiefs and the police had registered a case on its own. The accused could not be arrested as they had been granted interim bail by the high court.
The bench remarked that its direction was not confined to one case. Jirgas were reportedly being held openly and freely and no action was being taken to curb them. It asked the officers to see whether it was due to lack of enforcement of laws by the state machinery that encouraged jirgas. They should also consider whether people submitted to jirga orders because absence of security. Further hearing was adjourned to a date in office.
Ban on incineration
The bench, meanwhile, issued notices to the federal, provincial and city district governments and other respondents for August 29 in a petition seeking a ban on disposal of hospital waste by incineration.
Petitioner-lawyer Qazi Ali Athar said incinerators posed a threat to public health as they emitted carcinogenic fumes. There were about 602 public and private hospitals in Karachi, which generated over 30 tonnes of waste daily. Most of the waste was disposed of by two incineration plants set up at SITE while bigger hospitals had their own arrangements, but they too relied on incinerators for disposal of their waste.
The petitioner said incineration had been found dangerous to public health and banned in several countries. The governments should instead encourage recycling industry for waste materials that could be recycled.
Lawyers’ petition
The bench adjourned till August 20 petitions by a number of lawyers selected as deputy district prosecutors by the Sindh Public Service Commission in February. Another batch of five lawyers moved an identical petition and the bench asked the advocate-general to file comments on behalf of the provincial government in the new petition also.
The petitioners said they were being discriminated against as several additional prosecutors-general and district prosecutors recommended for appointment by the SPSC along with them had already been posted and carrying out their duties since March. They said the government could not resort to pick and choose after a final selection by the commission.
Goth residents’ plea
The bench also issued notices to the revenue and police officials in a petition by the residents of Chanesar Brohi Goth, Deh Bajar Bhutti, Tapo Sangal, District West, alleging that they were being compelled by a builder-developer to sell their plots and houses. The petitioners submitted through Advocate Gohar Iqbal that the police officials of Gadap and the Gulshan-i-Maymar police station were helping the builder instead of registering a case against him on their complaint.
