KARACHI: A sessions court reserved on Thursday its order on an application of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader seeking registration of a case pertaining to deaths from heatstroke against the provincial government.

PTI leader Imran Ismail moved an application under Section 22-A of the criminal procedure code and submitted that around 2,000 people lost their lives in Karachi during the devastating heatwave due to the apathy demonstrated by the Sindh government.

After hearing arguments from both sides district and session judge (south) Ahmed Saba reserved his order on the application for pronouncement till Friday.

When the matter came up for hearing before the court on Thursday, SHO of Civil Lines Waqar Ahmed Tanoli submitted his reply in which he contended that the PTI leader had moved an application for registration of a case at the police station, but he did not submit any profile of the deceased, post-mortem report and place of death.

The SHO claimed that neither was any person affected by heat nor did anyone die due to heatstroke within the jurisdiction of the Civil Lines police station and asked the court to dismiss the application.

Public prosecutor Abdul Waheed Ansari argued that the government could not be held responsible since the deaths were caused by a natural disaster.

However, the applicant’s lawyer Shaikh Jawaid Mir contented that the provincial government as well as the police were evading responsibility for an unprecedented number of deaths.

He argued that there was no issue of jurisdiction since people died everywhere in the city while CM House, where most of the decisions were made, was also located within the jurisdiction of the Civil Lines police station.

The counsel submitted a report of the inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC), a scientific body powered by the United Nations, in the court and contended that in its meeting held in Islamabad on Aug 15, 2014 the IPCC issued a warning about an increase in temperatures.

However, he maintained that CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah, who has been provincial chief executive for over seven years, along with the nominated people deliberately and intentionally did not take any precautionary step.

The applicant had named Chief Minister Shah, Information and Local Government Minister Sharjeel Memon, Health Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Saqib Soomro, chairman of the provincial disaster management authority Salman Shah and others as proposed accused.

He submitted that neither any awareness campaign for the general public prior to the heatwave was initiated nor did the health department come up with any plan to handle the rising temperatures.

Mr Ismail, who is the PTI’s deputy secretary general, contended in his application that the mens rea (guilty mind) of the proposed accused was exposed from the facts that high-risk localities were not identified, provision for easy availability of drinking water, shades for outdoor workers and efforts for energy generation were not made, nor was the early warning system for helping people to be prepared in advance made operational.

He further submitted that the people of the city were left at the mercy of charity organisations and there were no adequate arrangements at hospitals to treat heat-affected patients while there was also no space in mortuaries and graveyards.

The applicant made the station house officer of the Civil Lines police station a respondent and submitted that he approached the SHO with an application to lodge a case against the proposed accused under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab, causing death unintentionally) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

However, the SHO refused to entertain his application, he said, asking the court to direct the police to set the law in motion by registering the FIR immediately against the proposed accused.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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