KARACHI, March 19: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued preadmission notices in a petition seeking repatriation of an alleged Al Qaeda leader Khalid Mohammad Shaikh from the United States.
Petitioner Maryam, sister of the alleged terrorist, submitted through Advocate Ghulam Qadir Jatoi that he was a Pakistani citizen who was hauled up on suspicion of links with Al Qaeda and involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers in New York. If at all he was involved in any terrorist activity, he should have been tried in Pakistan. He was, however, turned over to the United States without any extradition proceedings in violation of the law and the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. She said a previous petition for the detainee’s recovery and production was disposed of by a division bench on March 6 because she was unable to ascertain and specify his whereabouts and the respondent agencies had denied that he was being held in custody by them. The bench had, however, allowed to her move a fresh petition if his whereabouts could be ascertained. Now that the media has reported that he was in detention in the United States, she was seeking his repatriation from the United States. According to world media reports, he was neither associated with Al Qaeda nor involved in the 9/11 attacks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Syed Pir Ali Shah issued notices to the interior and foreign ministries for April 2.
Minwala allowed to travel abroad
Another division bench comprising Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan allowed Cyrus ‘Happy’ Minwala to proceed abroad for treatment with the permission of the accountability court trying him. Mr Minwala is facing a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau for causing a loss of about Rs2 billion to the Pakistan International Airlines for supplying defective Boeing 474s as a Cathay Pacific representative in collusion with PIA executives.
Advocate Kamal Azfar submitted on behalf of the petitioner that he and co-accused Rashid Hasan, a former PIA director, had been allowed bail in the case. Their names were also placed on the exit control list but the co-accused challenged the travel ban and his plea was allowed by the court. The rule of consistency required that Mr Minwala’s name should also be taken off the ECL. He needed treatment abroad and also had to transact business in foreign countries.
The plea was opposed by the NAB counsel, who said the petitioner was the principal accused in the case and that his travel abroad would delay the trial. The bench observed that the petitioner should be meted out the same treatment as the co-accused but the trial court’s permission should be sought so that the proceedings were not hindered by his absence.
Women’s seats
Another division bench consisting of Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Syed Mahmood Alam Rizvi, meanwhile, adjourned further proceedings on Mrs Suraiya Jatoi’s petition to March 24. Mrs Jatoi wants to be declared elected to the National Assembly on the PPP quota for women’s seats. She said she appeared at serial number eight on the PPP list for reserved seats but her party was allocated seven seats while one seat was given Ms Reena Kumari of the PML (Functional), which received less than 5 per cent of the votes cast in the general election and, therefore, deserved no reserved seat.
Advocate Omar Soomro appeared on behalf Ms Kumari and informed the bench that the Supreme Court had vacated the restraint order passed by it against her oath-taking. The counsel said there was no requirement for overall percentage of votes cast in the general election and the reserved seats were allocated on the basis of seats won by the contesting parties from a province.
Assistant election commissioner Ataur Rahman submitted in response to a court notice that the PML (F) secured three NA seats and was allocated one reserved seat accordingly under a formula uniformly observed throughout the country.
Demolition ordered
The bench comprising Justices AM Memon and AN Khan asked the Karachi Building Control Authority to demolish unauthorized structures on plot LY 7/18, Moosa Lane, Lyari, and another plot in its vicinity. A petitioner moved a contempt application against the KBCA chief controller buildings for nor demolishing two floors of a building constructed in violation of the rules. The chief controller appeared in response to a court notice and informed the bench that the petitioner had himself raised a structure without any sanctioned plan and the contempt plea was a ploy to put pressure on him. He said the court order in respect of the partially offending building had been complied with.
The bench asked the KBCA to demolish the unauthorized structure raised by the petitioner also besides completing the demolition of the additional floors of the nearby building. The town police officer was directed to provide assistance to the KBCA demolition squad and the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation, the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines, the water and sewerage board and other utilities were asked to snap the connections sanctioned by them to the illegal structure.
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