September 05, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 04, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 4: The Sindh High Court gave the official respondents another opportunity on Thursday to recount the measures taken by the government to give effect to its order outlawing trials by jirgas.

Provincial home secretary Arif Ali Khan, inspector-general of police Sultan Salahuddin Babar Khattak, capital city police officer Waseem Ahmad and Sukkur deputy inspector-general Bashir Ahmed Memon, respondents in a petition moved by a free-will marriage couple “convicted” by a jirga, meanwhile, engaged a private counsel, Mohammad Ashraf Kazi, to represent them.

Additional Advocate-General Abdul Fatah Malik sought to withdraw himself from the case because the hiring of a private counsel showed the official respondents’ lack of confidence in him.

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani, who constituted the bench seized of the case, discharged him as the respondents’ counsel but asked him to continue to assist the court as AAG on behalf of the provincial government. It granted exemption to the respondents for October 8, the next date of hearing. The bench also asked the police to continue to provide protection and medical facilities to Saira Jatoi, who is pregnant, and her husband, Ismail Soomro.

The high court had earlier asked the official respondents why jirga trials were continuing in violation of its order of 2004 banning private dispensation of justice. Saira and Ismail were convicted and declared “karo-kari” by a joint jirga of the Jatoi and Soomro tribes at Shikarpur for contracting a marriage without the consent of their parents but the police intervened to save them from punishment.

The administration and police officers said in their brief reply that jirga trials were deep-rooted evil that would take time to eradicate. In the instant case, nobody came forward to lodge a complaint against the tribal elders who held the jirga and the state itself became the complainant, they said.

The couple’s counsel, Pir Shafqat Shah Masoomi, submitted that the administration had not only failed to prevent jirga trials but had encouraged them by not taking cognizance of them. He said the matter related to basic function of the state that could not be transferred to private individuals. He said the couple, particularly petitioner Saira Jatoi, continues to suffer because of the jirga verdict.

Bail declined

The chief justice, meanwhile, declined to confirm the interim bail granted to Ghulam Sarwar Shah and Ghulam Murtaza, co-accused in a murder case that occurred at Pir Jo Goth during the Feb 18 polling. Syed Ismail Shah Rashdi, son of Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi and grandson of the Pir Pagara, was also nominated as an accused in the case but was discharged by the investigation officer under Section 169 of the criminal procedure code.

The applicants submitted through Advocate Mirza Sarfaraz Ahmed that the incident was the outcome of political and election rivalry and his clients were not even present at the scene of occurrence. They were implicated by their rivals only to harass them.

Contesting the bail application on behalf of the complainant and the prosecution, Advocate Ali Bin Adam Jafri and Assistant Advocate-General Adnan Karim Memon submitted that the applicants were named in the FIR by the complainant, Ali Murad Khunhro, brother of the victim, Wali Mohammad Khunhro. A specific role had been assigned to them and there were four eye-witnesses in the case. The investigation officer had neither made any arrest nor any recovery. He had already discharged Pir Ismail Shah Rashdi, who is alleged to have instigated the accused.

The chief justice took note of the contentions and declined to confirm the interim bail granted to the applicants. He asked the investigation officer to properly investigate the case in accordance with the law.

Protective bail

A division bench consisting of Justices Ali Sain Dino Metlo and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed on Thursday allowed protective bail for one week to businessman Khizer Yusuf Dada in a sum of Rs500,000. He was also asked to deposit his passport.

Khizer Dada was issued a notice by the National Accountability Bureau under Section 19 of the NAB Ordinance for “fraudulently” shipping raw cotton to Hong Kong. He was told to appear before an investigation team at the NAB headquarters in Islamabad. He apprehended his arrest and coercion by the investigators to make him sign documents.

The applicant’s counsel, Javed Ahmed Chhatari, submitted that Section 19 notice had been used as an instrument of oppression and cited a high court judgment deploring that accused were kept in confinement for long period while investigations continued for years. He said the notice was vague and did not mention any particulars of the alleged shipments or the offence committed by the applicant. The petitioner might be taken into custody by his interrogators in Islamabad for harassment. The counsel submitted that his client was prepared to join in the investigations and cooperate with the investigators provided they acted in accordance with the law.

Former judge’s pension

A division bench comprising Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Bin Yamin on Thursday asked the accountant-general to process the pension case of Qazi Abdul Waheed Siddiqui, a retired judge of the Federal Shariat Court, and report compliance by Sept 23, the next date of the hearing of his petition.

The judge was allowed pension under a recent Supreme Court decision holding that all superior court judges irrespective of their term were entitled to pension.