KARACHI, Feb 7: The inquiry into the October 18, 2007, blasts in the city will continue but the tribunal will not issue coercive processes to enforce the presence of four key witnesses till February 25, a division bench of the Sindh High Court observed on Thursday while adjourning hearing of a petition moved by the Pakistan People’s Party against the probe to a date in office.
The witnesses who may be forced to appear only after February 25 are Zulfiqar Ali Mirza, who headed the party’s security outfit for its late chairperson Benazir Bhutto on her arrival in Karachi on Oct 18; Sindh PPP chief Qaim Ali Shah; Agha Siraj Durrani; and Abdul Ghani Baloch, the driver of the float that carried Ms Bhutto and her entourage.
The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi in terms of an undertaking given by Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada. He assured that the petitioner’s counsel, Farooq H. Naek, would be furnished copies of documents sought by him subject to payments of cost.
Advocate Naek pressed for stay of the tribunal’s proceedings or at least coercive summoning of witnesses pending hearing of the petition. He said he required time to submit a reply to the comments made by the provincial government. Some of the witnesses summoned were busy contesting the polls or conducting the election campaign.
Advocate-General Dr Mohammad Farogh Naseem, appearing in response to a court notice, said the tribunal had been set up to probe the blasts that took a heavy toll of life under the West Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act, 1969. It was commonplace the world over to institute inquiries into such occurrences and the institution of the probe showed the government’s concern over the grave incident. The proceedings of a legally constituted tribunal could not be stayed. A blanket bar on coercive process would practically amount to staying the proceedings. The law empowers the tribunal to call witnesses to ascertain the truth. An exception could, however, be made in cases of party candidates and leaders busy in campaign, the AG said.
Detailed comments submitted by Assistant-Advocate-General Habib Ahmed on behalf of the provincial government said about 5,070 personnel were deployed for Ms Bhutto’s security on Oct 18. The registration of a second FIR was sub judice but there was nothing on record to suggest that she did not recognize the validity of the tribunal’s proceedings, which were not aimed at ‘putting the matter into cold storage’ as alleged. If the witnesses co-operate, the probe would be expedited.
Allegations against former Justice Dr Ghous Mohammad, who constitutes the one-man inquiry tribunal, had been made without stating particulars, the government said in its comments. While Dr Ghous may have convicted PPP men in a couple of accountability cases, he also acquitted Ms Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, as the district and sessions judge of Karachi East. As an accountability judge of the Sindh High Court, he acquitted Nisar Ahmed Khuro and Nadir Ali Magsi and ordered the return of Ms Bhutto’s passport to enable her to travel abroad.
A coercive order for Zulfiqar Mirza’s appearance was made because he challenged the summons. Agha Siraj Durrani and retired Major Imtiaz were allowed to appear at their convenience when they expressed their inability to answer the summons on the dates fixed by the tribunal. So far as supply of documents was concerned, the petitioner seemed to be contending that a party or individual was under no legal obligation to pursue an application before a tribunal. No mala fide was involved in the establishment of the tribunal or in the conduct of its proceedings, the official comments said.