KARACHI: Deploring mistrust between the federal and the provincial authorities in taking effective measures to contain violence in Karachi, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked them to settle the issues amicably.
The attorney general assured the apex court that in order to address the grievance of law enforcement agencies in Sindh regarding geo-fencing and Global Positioning System locators, a high level meeting would be arranged to amicably decide these matters and other ancillary issues between the federal and the provincial governments and agencies.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali took up the implementation proceedings of the apex court judgement on the Karachi suo motu law and order case.
The bench issued directives to the provincial authorities for instant provision of funds for installation of high-quality closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Karachi and to initiate process of fresh recruitment to fill the vacancies in the police department.
Only 17 of 820 CCTV cameras in Karachi functioning, SC told
At the outset, Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf informed the bench that the federal authorities had no objection on provision of facilities of GPS locators to the police as demanded by the provincial police officer at the last hearing. But he opposed another demand of the Sindh police chief seeking access to the facility of geo-fencing and said it was only accessible by the intelligence agencies.
However, he contended that such information was already provided after receiving requests from any province within 24 hours while in important cases it was done within two hours.
Referring to a notification of the interior ministry asking cellular companies to share the required data with police, the bench inquired about the obstacles to implement it and wondered why the police were not being trusted regardless of the fact that all such issues ultimately related to the law and order situation of provincial metropolis.
Interior secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said as per notification the cellular companies were required to provide call data on requests of the DIGs concerned.
When the judges asked which cellular company was not implementing the notification in question, IGP of Sindh A. D. Khawaja replied that during the kidnapping of Barrister Owais Ali Shah, the son of the Sindh High Court chief justice, the call data was provided by a particular cellular company after 14 days.
The bench was informed that there were certain standard operating procedures (SOPs) under which such information could be shared with the police, but no access could be given.
Expressing resentment over what the bench called mistrust among the state institutions and agencies, it noted that it was the prime duty of the government to ensure protection to lives and property of citizens, but who would perform such duty when the state institutions start pointing fingers at each other.
The bench members directed the attorney general, the provincial chief secretary and the Sindh police chief and the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to sit together and resolve the matter.
The court maintained it was trying to ask for resolving these issues in a positive manner and that the blame game should be stopped and there should be concrete solution between the federal government and the provinces.
The bench adjourned the hearing till Aug 11 since the attorney general sought two weeks and assured it that they would hold consultation with all those concerned to find out a solution to issues between provincial and federal agencies and governments.
Meanwhile, the bench also expressed displeasure over the release of prisoners on parole from different jails of Sindh during recent years, and directed the IG Prisons to submit a list of all those prisoners either released on parole or absconded from jails.
About the negligence of police officers during Barrister Owais Shah’s abduction, chief secretary Mohammed Siddique Memon informed the bench that he had forwarded the cases of 24 senior police officers to the secretary of establishment division for initiating action against them.
The IG Sindh police said that the DIG south had been appointed as inquiry officer to investigate the role of police officials and assured the judges that the report would be filed within one week.
The bench questioned as to why Madadgar 115 was placed under the Special Security Unit, and said that it should be under the command of CCPO of Karachi.
The members of the bench were visibly irked when the provincial chief secretary disclosed that only 17 out of the total 820 CCTV cameras installed in Karachi with a cost of Rs500 million were functioning.
He said that these cameras had a resolution of two megapixels and needed to be upgraded to 3 or 4-megapixels, adding that a fund was placed at the disposal of the IG Sindh for procurement of CCTV cameras.
However, the IG said the funds in question were meant for procurement of transportation and arms only and asked the government to purchase the cameras and run them through a private company as police lacked technical expertise.
Making a reference to the Monday’s killing of two soldiers in Karachi, the chief justice questioned that why CCTV cameras installed at the place of incident were not functioning.
The bench reprimanded the secretary for making a wrong statement and directed him to ensure that funds were made available for the purchase of high-powered CCTV cameras and also ordered him to report back the steps to be taken by the Sindh government to save the lives and property of the people in Karachi.
The bench asked the chief secretary to ensure early initiation of the project and also made it clear that there should be transparency in the process of awarding tenders for the project.
The IG informed the apex court that a recruitment policy was devised under which 10,000 vacancies were sanctioned in fiscal year 2015-16 in police while another 10,000 in year 2016-17. However, he said the recruitment process could not be initiated due to a ban on fresh appointments placed by the previous government, adding that fresh recruitments in Karachi could be completed in six weeks while in interior it would take three months.
When confronted by bench members, the chief secretary could not offer a satisfactory explanation as to why the government banned recruitments in police despite court directives.
The SC bench ordered the IG that the process of fresh recruitments in police should be initiated immediately and complete it in a transparent manner.
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2016
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