A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday began the proceedings of a suo motu case on Karachi unrest. The other bench members are Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmard Jalal Osmani, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.
IG Sindh Wajid Ali Durrani briefed the court about law and order situation in Karachi with the help of a multi-media presentation, saying there were several no-go areas divided on ethnic lines. Awami National Party (ANP) through advocate Iftikhar Gilani, Sindh United Party (SUP) through advocate Mujeeb Pirzada and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) through advocate Syed Abdul Waheed submitted applications to become party to the case.
The Attorney General, Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, on behalf of the federal government and Advocate General Sindh Abdul Fitah Malik and Abdul Hafeez Pirzada for Sindh government recorded their arguments. Former Federal Law Minister, Babar Awan represented the federal government.
Chief Secretary Sindh Raja Ghulam Abbas, Prosecutor General Sindh Shahdat Awan, PPP's Taj Haider, Awami Tehrik's Rasool Bux Paleejo, SUP's Jalal Mehmood Shah, JI's Muhammad Laiq Khan and ANP's Bashir Jan were also present in the court. IG Sindh told the court the police took action in line with the reports of investigation agencies. Justice Ghulam Rabbani, however, showed dissatisfaction over the police reports regarding the Karachi situation.
Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani also inquired about the lawyers who fell victim recently to acts of terrorism (targeted killings) in the city and regarding the status of investigation into the murder of advocate Murtaza Chinoy. Justice Sarmad asked for appointing an SP rank police officer to lead the investigation. Justice Muslim appeared to be perturbed over police's failure to file 155 challan in its report.
The IG Sindh gave a presentation on the city's law and order situation and presented a detailed report, saying there were about 2.5 million foreigners living in the city while as many as 32,000 personnel were performing duties at 112 police stations. He said the city has various ethnic groups - Urdu-speaking, Pushtun, Punjabi, Sindhi, Seraiki and others - tried to draw a comparison in terms of population and police strength between Karachi and other some major town such as London, Lahore and Delhi. According to him, there is one policeman for every 543 people in Karachi.
Durrani pointed out that Karachi witnessed feuds between the land and extortion mafia, while there was a trust deficit amongst the ethnic groups. He said some areas divided on ethnic lines became no-go areas. He told the court that some 306 people had been killed in various incidents from July 1, 2011 till August 24, 2011 period police arrested 20 target killers. He said those arrested belonged to various ethnic groups.
At this point, the Chief Justice asked about the identity of those these killers were inciting. He also sought information about those lending support to killers. The IG Sindh replied that on August 17, five ethnic Balochs were abducted and killed which led to a fresh wave of violence in Karachi, leaving several people dead.
In Chakra Goth police came under gunfire attack, which left three personnel dead, in retaliation, two target killers, including Shahid Burger were also killed while their injured accomplices Kamran Madhuri and Sohail Commando were arrested. He said total nine involved killers were arrested, he said. He said 13 people were recently arrested on extortion charges. He said traders were so frightened to name the extortionists or lodge complaints, which created difficulties for the police to take action against the outlaws.
He also informed the court about an increase in police personnel strength with armed vehicles. He said the police had 650 trained commandos. He said about 900 CCTV cameras were being installed at 164 different spots for surveillance purposes.
Hafeez Pirzada advanced arguments on behalf of the Sindh government. The Chief Justice asked him to continue his arguments during Tuesday's proceedings before he adjourned the court. Earlier, at the outset of the proceedings, the Attorney General presented FIA's and special branch's reports before the court. When asked, the Attorney General informed the court that Intelligence Bureau (IB) had sought more time for compiling the reports while the investigations of Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) could not finalise their reports because of Sunday holiday. The court asked the Attorney General to make the intelligence reports part of the record.
Agencies add: The Chief Justice remarked that the "protection of life and property of the people is responsibility of the government". He asked as to why the station house officers (SHOs) were not aware of crime in their jurisdictions. Replying to the queries of CJ, the IGP said that police and ordinary citizens were not allowed to enter some parts of Karachi. He also informed the court that extortion was a problem which was plaguing the city for the last 10-12 years. The money was received on different pretexts even as `Zakat and Fitra'.
He said that cases had been registered and 13 accused were arrested on charges of extortion. The Chief Justice also asked the IGP to give details of smuggling of weapons into Karachi. About the presence of alleged torture cells in some areas of the city, Wajid Durrani said that the police had not found any. On this the CJ replied that SHOs could be aware of the presence of torture cells.
Earlier, strict security measures at Supreme Court Karachi Registry were planned for hearing of suo motu case regarding law and order situation in Karachi on Monday. As far as security concerns, special passes were issued by the Supreme Court, Karachi registry to the petitioners, respondents, their counsels appearing before the court.
Meanwhile the Chief Justice has also formed two benches for hearing of the cases at Karachi Registry on August 29 and 30. The first bench will be headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry while the second bench will be headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali. The families of the victims of targeted killings have also been asked to volunteer their appearance before the apex court and may also submit any evidence, if available, before the court.
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