KARACHI, Nov 1: The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that a parallel judicial system was being run by the Sindh home department that paroled the convicts of heinous crimes even after their convictions were upheld by the apex court.

A larger five-member bench that was seized with the proceedings on the implementation of the apex court order on the suo motu case related to Karachi killings also expressed extreme concern and dismay over the release of the convicts and under-trial prisoners without meeting the criterion laid down in the prisons’ rules and regulations.

The bench was headed by Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali with Justices Khilji Arif Hussain, Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Gulzar Ahmed and Amir Hani Muslim.

The bench came down heavily on Additional Home Secretary Waseem Ahmed, provincial prisons chief Zafar Abbas Bukhari, deputy secretary home (prisons) Ali Hasan and Additional Inspector General of Police Iqbal Mehmood and asked as to how the paroled people disappeared and there was no clue to their whereabouts.

Justice Jamali remarked that the convicts who were involved in five to seven murder cases were released on parole and now no one knew where they had disappeared. “This is a very serious issue. It seems a parallel judicial system is being run by the home department and convicts are being released even after their convictions are upheld,” he observed.

Inspector-General of Prisons Zafar Abbas Bukhari presented the lists of 193 convicts and 35 under-trial prisoners who were released on parole since 2003.

The bench became more and more irked as the member judges perused the home department report on the release of the convicts and UTPs on parole.

Justice Hani asked if the criterion was met while releasing the prisoners on parole.

Reclamation officer of the home department Saleem Abbas stated that the prisoners were released on parole on the basis of ‘good conduct’ and an 11-member committee approved the parole cases.

While perusing the list of 193 paroled convicts, Justice Jamali expressed extreme displeasure and dismay and remarked how a lifer convicted in a kidnapping for ransom case and whose term was to be completed in 2022 was released on parole.

“Are these convicts eligible for parole?” snapped Justice Usmani.

Referring to the list of 35 paroled UTPs, Justice Jamali observed that they were released on temporary parole in 2003, but they kept on getting extension for two years and “now nobody knows their whereabouts”.

Justice Jamali remarked that majority of the released UTPs were booked and arrested in murder cases and kidnapping for ransom cases.

“Seven years have gone by, but none of them has been arrested,” he remarked.

Justice Jamali remarked: “We are in a state of shock how it could happen.” Justice Hani said: “We don’t expect anything from this set-up where out-of-turn promoted police officers are holding operational offices”. He pointed out ill-governance within police and said there were many out-of-turn promoted and ill-reputed officers in the police department.

“If you are incapable of arresting the killers, why are you letting the arrested accused free?” Justice Khilji asked the officials.

The bench asked Additional Home Secretary Waseem Ahmed if any steps were taken for the arrest of paroled prisoners. The home secretary stated that he had written a letter to the provincial police chief for the arrest of the disappeared prisoners one year ago.

The bench directed the police to track down the paroled prisoners and put them behind bars.

Convicts on death row

The provincial prisons chief also placed before the larger bench a list of condemned prisoners lodged in different penitentiaries across the province.

As per the list, the death sentences of 22 convicts were upheld by the Supreme Court and their mercy appeals were lying with the president for disposal.

Besides, there are six condemned prisoners whose mercy petitions had been dismissed by the president of Pakistan, but the interior ministry through an executive order withheld their execution till Dec 31, 2012.

Targeted killings

Earlier, additional inspector general of police and city police chief Iqbal Mehmood submitted a report on targeted killings in the city.

The larger bench rejected the report and directed the police chief to submit a detailed and comprehensive report on targeted killings over the past year.

The bench pointed out the legal lacuna in the arrests and recovery made by the Rangers as the paramilitary troops did not have the powers to register an FIR.

The bench observed that if the arrested suspects were handed over to the police days after their arrests, this was bound to damage the case of the prosecution.

‘Rangers be sent back’

Justice Khilji remarked that the Rangers had been assisting the police for the past 18 years with a hefty portion of the provincial budget being spent on them, but the paramilitary troops had yielded no remarkable results.

He remarked that either the police should be replaced with Rangers in Karachi or the paramilitary troops be sent back to safeguard our borders. “Their portion in the budget may be spent on the police instead,” he added.

The bench remarked that anything could be possible in a country where the murderers of police officials were not arrested.

Justice Khilji remarked that most people in the city were undergoing immense psychological stress as each killing caused fear and panic amongst them.

Unregistered vehicles

The bench directed DIG Traffic Khurram Gulzar to take immediate action against all those vehicles roaming in the city either without bearing registration number plates or with AFR (applied for registration) and foreign number plates.

The DIG traffic informed the court that there were only 3,000 traffic police personnel in the metropolis. He said that only 1,500 personnel were available on a shift to control the huge amount of traffic comprising 2.7 million vehicles, including around 15,000 public transport vehicles.

In response to a court query, the DIG stated that at least 5,000 personnel were required in Karachi.

The court required the traffic police chief to inform the court if he had approached the concerned authorities for enhancing the strength of traffic police.

The bench also summoned the provincial finance secretary who informed it that efforts were under way to increase the number of traffic police in the city.

The finance secretary submitted that the private sector was to be involved to resolve the traffic issues in the city, but the law and order situation was one of the main obstacles for the investors.

He informed the court that the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project would be launched shortly.

The bench also directed the police and customs authorities to submit a comprehensive report regarding the vehicles impounded by them.

The court also ordered the advocate general to submit details on unregistered government vehicles.

The hearing was adjourned sine die.