KARACHI, June 3: Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam has said that the law and order situation will not improve unless the convicts on death row are executed as they are operating their crime networks in the city from the penitentiaries.

Talking to journalists during his visit to the anti-terrorism courts here on Monday, he said that the ATCs had decided over 50 per cent cases referred to them and handed down different punishments to the accused.

Still, he said, tactics were being used to defame the judiciary.

The chief justice said that it was the responsibility of the government to execute the convicts who were handed down capital punishment by the courts. “Punishments are not executed due to external pressure,” he remarked.

The chief justice said that the convicts involved in heinous crimes, including murders, were operating their networks in the city from prisons.

He expressed dissatisfaction over the quality of the ongoing renovation work at the ATCs and ordered completion of work as soon as possible.

The chief justice further said that convicts whose sentences were confirmed were enjoying illegal facilities in prisons but their punishment was not executed.

He said that there would be no advantage if the ATCs worked day and night to decide the cases and awarded punishments unless such punishments were executed.

CJ Alam observed that the government was constitutionally duty bound to provide facilities to the judiciary for dispensation of justice.

The SHC on Monday directed authorities of the Karachi central prison to provide medical facilities to a prisoner, who is reported to be seriously ill.

Freewill couples’ cases The Sindh High Court on Monday directed police to provide protection to two freewill couples.

A division bench headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan also issued notices to the prosecutor general and the respondents in two separate petitions seeking protection to the couples who contracted marriages without the consent of families of the women.

Petitioner Bakhtawar submitted that she married Noman Ali on May 22, 2013, after executing a freewill affidavit before a magistrate

She submitted that her family did not accept their marriage and lodged a kidnapping case against her husband with the New Town police station.

The bench directed the police not to make any arrest in the subject FIR.