Impleading the federal and provincial governments as respondents in its suo motu inquiry into the carnage, a seven-member bench directed that notices be issued to the attorney-general, the advocate-general, Ports and Shipping Minister Babar Khan Ghori, the Sindh Home Adviser Waseem Akhtar, the federal interior secretary, the provincial home secretary and the Karachi Port Trust chairman.
A detailed questionnaire submitted by amicus curiae Qazi Faez Isa on the previous date is to be attached to the notices to enable all concerned to make a detailed response along with supporting documents and relevant record. The bench also formulated five questions of its own to elicit information.
Notices were also issued to the chief executive officers of the television channels Aaj, Geo, KTN, Sindh TV, and ARY OneWorld and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan to provide all the material information/record available with them. The office was directed to prepare a file with regard to the Karachi Bar Association contempt application against Chief Minister Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim. The application is to be treated as a criminal miscellaneous application and copies of the rejoinder submitted by Advocate Wasim Sajjad on the CM’s behalf were ordered to be made available to the petitioners by the next date, Aug 20. The attorney-general and the advocate-general were allowed to depute other law officers if they were unable to appear personally to assist the court.
Besides the suo motu inquiry, the bench is considering petitions and applications moved by the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the KBA, the Pakistan International Human Rights Organisation and Syed Iqbal Kazmi.
The questions formulated by the bench, which consists of Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Mushir Alam, Azizullah M. Memon, Khilji Arif Hussain, Maqbool Baqar and Ali Sain Dino Metlo, are:
What is the command and control structure of the security apparatus in Sindh?
What are the powers and responsibilities of officers of police and of the law enforcement deputed in Sindh in terms of relevant laws, viz. the Police Order of 2002, the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001, the Rangers Act and the rules of business?
The authorities concerned shall also submit the minutes of the meetings held in connection with the security arrangements for May 12.
On whose orders policemen were disarmed on May 12 as they reportedly were?
What measures the capital city police officer and the home secretary took after they were directed by the SHC chief justice to remove the containers/trailers around the SHC premises and to ensure safety and security of the judges, the lawyers and the general public?Earlier in his submissions, Qazi Faez Isa referred to the Quaid-i-Azam’s address to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, and his speeches on other occasions. According to the Quaid, the basic responsibility of the government was to maintain law and order. On the eve of the 60th anniversary of Independence, the lawyer said, ‘we can’t be farther away from the founder’s words’. Then, the Quaid said, the civil servants have nothing to do with politics and political parties should not influence bureaucracy to do their bidding. Today, he regretted, officialdom, including police, has become an arm of the political parties in power.
The lawyer criticised the advocate-general’s office, which has forwarded the CCPO’s counter-affidavit questioning the court’s jurisdiction in the matter. His questionnaire mainly intended to reveal the identity of those responsible for placing road blocks in the shape of containers and trailers. Justice Osmany told him that the proceedings were aimed at finding the truth of the matter. Justice Jamali wondered who reported to the President that May 12 saw a demonstration of ‘the people’s power’ in Karachi.