September 17, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 16, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 16: No case, proceeding or inquiry is pending against President Asif Ali Zardari in any court or forum within or outside the country, federal and National Accountability Bureau counsel emphatically stated before a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday.

The bench comprising Justices Ali Sain Dino Metlo and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed disposed of the long pending petition moved by Mr Zardari for termination of proceedings against him.

Petitions were moved by Mr Zardari and the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto against requests made by the then attorney-general and the Ehtesab (accountability) Bureau for assistance from the Swiss and British authorities in proceedings and inquiries conducted against them. Another petition was moved after the promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance in October 2007. Ms Bhutto’s petition abated following her assassination while Mr Zardari’s petition was finally disposed of on Tuesday.

Representing the petitioner, Advocates Abu Bakar Zardari and Haider Ali Sundarani said the statements, made by Deputy Attorney-General Amer Raza Naqvi and the NAB counsel, were unequivocal and categorical. The grievance having been redressed the petition be disposed of as withdrawn, they concluded.

Secretary summoned

The Sindh High Court asked the provincial home secretary to appear in person on Sept 24 to explain why police were unable to help the city district government evict encroachers from the site of its inter-city and inter-provincial bus terminal on the Super Highway.

The city government counsel, Manzoor Ahmed, earlier informed a bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Rana Mohammad Shamim that an ambitious plan to build a terminal for buses plying between Karachi and other cities of Sindh and the country was ready to be launched. The only obstacle, he said, was illegal occupation of the village, Biti Amri, by encroachers. The city government tried to remove the encroachments but failed to get any assistance from the police force despite several requests.

The counsel said the proposed plan envisaged expeditious construction of all the requisite facilities for travellers, transporters and their staff and vehicles. Spread over 45 acres, the terminal would cater to thousands of passengers who travelled by over 3,000 buses to and from Karachi from every part of the country daily. This would be the second bus terminal after the Yousuf Goth terminal built for Quetta-bound buses. After its completion, all the bus stands located at Saddar and in other parts of the city would be shifted to the new terminal. A third terminal was in the pipeline for Quaidabad. However, it was for the traffic police to ensure that no inter-city vehicle entered the municipal limits after the construction of the new terminals, he said.

Petitioner-lawyer Islam Hussain said the air and noise pollution and traffic congestion in the city had become unbearable due to absence of control on the vehicular traffic. He said despite the construction of the new bus terminal, Balochistan-bound buses were still using many places in Saddar and Lyari as terminals.

CNG station

The bench adjourned the hearing of a petition against the setting up of a CNG station in Nazimabad. On behalf of the petitioner, Advocate Badar Alam submitted that a CNG station could not be set up in a residential area.

Representing the respondent owner, Advocate Shamshad Ali Qureshi said the station was installed with the permission of all the agencies and authorities concerned, including the provincial and city district governments. It was meant to provide a facility to CNG consumers living in the residential area. He sought time to produce all the no-objections certificates obtained by the owner.

Market fee upheld

Another division bench comprising Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Zafar Ahmed Khan Sherwani dismissed a petition moved by the vegetable and fruit merchants of Taluka Mehrabpur, the district of Naushehro Feroze, against the imposition of market fee by the taluka municipal administration.

Additional Advocate-General Masood Ahmed Noorani argued that the petitioners had relied on an SHC judgment of the year 2000. However, the judgment had been superseded by another decision rendered in 2005 under the new Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

Dismissing the petition, the bench held that the municipal administration was empowered to recover the fee under the new SLGO.

Maid freed

Murdered artist Naheed Gohar’s 12-year-old maid was ordered to be handed over to her father by Justice Mrs Qaiser Iqbal.

Ghulam Husain through a petition submitted that his daughter worked as a domestic servant in the late artist’s house. She was taken into custody by Naheed Gohar’s relatives, Mohsin and Farhan. They also implicated the petitioner in the murder. He was freed by police after investigation but his daughter remained in the custody of the artist’s relatives, one of whom wanted to forcibly marry her despite the fact that she was too young to marry.