KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday formally indicted Sindh Police Inspector General (IGP) Ghulam Hyder Jamali and other senior police officers in a contempt of court case.

The contempt proceedings against IGP Jamali and others were initiated on the petition of disowned Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Zulfikar Mirza for besieging the SHC and adjoining antiterrorism courts on May 19 and 23.

During the May 23 siege of the SHC, uniformed and plain-clothes personnel had used force to arrest a number of associates of Dr Mirza who, along with him, appeared in court to seek confirmation of their pre-arrest bail in several cases.

Dr Mirza’s guards and some of his associates, as well as media persons, were manhandled at the main gate of the court’s building. Several vehicles parked in the area and media personnel’s cameras were also damaged during the action.

The officers pleaded 'innocent' but opted to face the charges in trial. The court was adjourned till tomorrow.

Earlier, the bench had rejected the police officers' apologies on two occasions but had postponed formal indictment.

While rejecting their apologies, the court had observed: “The regrets, remorse and repentance shown by the alleged contemnors do not appear to be sincere, bona fide and honest, therefore, we decline to accept their apologies. We are of the view that there is sufficient material available on record to proceed against the alleged contemnors in accordance with law.”

Those formally indicted for contempt include: IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali, former Karachi police chief Additional IG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, DIG-South Dr Jamil Ahmed, DIG-West Feroze Shah, SSP Captain (Rtd) Mohammad Asad, officer in-charge of the Special Security Unit SSP Major (Rtd) Saleem, Additional IG (Legal) Faisal Bashir Memon, SSP-City Fida Hussain Janwari, SP-Saddar Zeeshan Shafiq Siddiqui, former SP-Saddar Raees Abdul Ghani, SP-Headquarters (West) Tahir Noorani and Sub-Inspector Jehangir Mahar.