KARACHI, Aug 31: The Sindh High Court allowed on Tuesday 11 petitions by leaseholders of about 30 acres along the Hawkesbay Road, Trans-Lyari Quarters, against interference by the military estate office in their possession of the land.
The petitioners stated that they were granted long-term leases in early 1990s by the provincial government through its land utilization department. They were in peaceful possession of the land when the military estate office asked them not to raise boundary walls or carry out any other construction work on their leaseholds.
According to the office, the land belonged to the military and it could not be leased out to anybody by any civil authority. The Sindh government supported the petitioners' claim that the land was owned by it, that it granted them leasehold rights and that they were rightful lessees in possession. The Karachi Port Trust, however, set up an independent claim of its own to the land.
A division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain, allowed the petitions to the extent of the petitioners' possession as lessees. It left the rest of the controversy about title to be adjudicated in appropriate proceedings in a suit.
Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada appeared for the provincial government, Advocate A. Hafeez Lakho for the petitioners, Advocate Sajjad Ali Shah for the federal government and the estate office and Advocate Salman Hamid for the Karachi Port Trust.
APPEAL: Nine accused of the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-Almi convicted and sentenced to two life terms in Macedonian Consulate bomb blast and triple murder case of December 2002 preferred appeals before the Sindh High Court on Tuesday, adds agencies.
Haq Nawaz Baloch, Judge Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-V) for Karachi division, sentenced accused Mohammad Atif, Naeem Rafi, Abdul Razzak, Sohail Akhtar, Zafar Iqbal, Mohammad Khalid, Sameerullah and Syed Ahmer Kazmi to two life terms, confiscation of property equivalent to Rs100,000 each. They were also sentenced to serve 10 years on charge of dacoity in the consulate building.
According to prosecution, the accused first plundered the consulate and removed valuables, including computers, etc., killed Hameed Masih, Asif and Ms Ghazala by cutting their throats and later caused a bomb blast damaging the entire structure into rubble on Dec 5, 2002, in the jurisdiction of PS Gizri.
Preferring appeals, the counsel for accused maintained that out of three eyewitnesses, one turned hostile. The remaining two are interested witness, and, therefore, cannot be relied upon. The counsel maintained that trial court misread the evidence and benefit of doubt should have gone in favour of the accused/ convicts.
ASIF CASE: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday further granted time to the provincial law officer to verify fact that if any proposed treatment for ex-Senator Asif Ali Zardari is available in Ziauddin Hospital Karachi or such a facility was available in Islamabad also.
The court was hearing an application filed by Mr Asif Zardari against his shifting to Islamabad and seeking directions to the trial court to keep him in Karachi for medical treatment.
AAG Habib Ahmed sought time to furnish information regarding treatment of Asif Zardari outside Karachi. SHC's division bench, comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, put off the hearing on request of AAG, and in the meantime continued the interim orders passed earlier, asking the Sindh government not to shift Asif Zardari from Karachi till Sept 2.