KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the interior ministry, Sindh home secretary and others to file their respective comments on a petition of lawmakers challenging a federal government notification that suspended all prohibited bore arms licences.

The petitioners, who included Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani and Senator Shahid Bugti, approached the high court against the federal government’s notification that suspended their licences of automatic arms.

They submitted in the petition that they were residents of some of the riskiest and most troubled areas of the country, where they faced serious security and law and order situation.

The petitioners said that in view of these circumstances they had purchased firearms after completing all codal formalities including the biometric process, obtaining and securing personal data of applicants, background security scrutiny by the National Database and Registration Authority.

However, they said, the interior ministry had suspended the licences of their arms without intimating them.

‘Subject of arms and ammunition does not fall in the federal govt’s jurisdiction’

The petitioners contended that after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, the subject of “arms, firearms and ammunition” was at entry 17 of the Concurrent Legislative List and did not fall in the federal government’s jurisdiction.

They submitted that now the subject had been transferred to the provincial government, maintaining that the impugned notification of the federal government cannot extend to the provinces and was not applicable to the petitioners as they belonged to Sindh and Balochistan.

The bench issued notices to the respondent interior ministry and home department as well as the law officers of the federal and the provincial governments, directing them to submit their respective replies by March 27.

In the meantime, the court issued an interim order that stayed the federal government’s notification against the petitioners.

Earlier, the Sindh Assembly speaker and feudal lords had also obtained stay orders against the cancellation of their arms licences.

Order reserved on Sharjeel’s bail plea

Another SHC bench reserved till March 2 its order on post-arrest bail applications of Paki­stan Peoples Party lawmaker Sharjeel Inam Memon and others in a Rs5.76 billion corruption case.

Former provincial information minister Memon and 11 others were arrested in October last year outside the SHC after their interim bails were revoked in the case.

The PPP leader along with a former provincial information secretary, officials of the information department and others was booked by the National Acco­untability Bureau for embezzlement of Rs5,766,479,766.

While the defence counsel denied charges against the accused persons, a NAB prosecutor told the judges that there were sufficient evidences against the accused and their bail pleas were liable to be rejected.

Representing Mr Memon, Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa submitted that his client was suffering from a serious disease but had not been provided due medical facilities in prison. The lawyer requested the court to grant him bail on medical grounds, maintaining that a medical board had advised proper treatment.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2018