Ministry of Law and Justice has received a summary of the resolution passed by the Sindh Assembly on 16 December curtailing the powers of Rangers for a legal opinion, highly placed sources in the Law Ministry confirmed to Business Recorder on condition of anonymity. Since the matter is now a political one with engagement by the establishment as well as the federal government the resolution is being reviewed at the Secretary level, the source added.
The Law Ministry will now proceed to determine the legality of the resolution and refer it to the Interior Ministry. However, the official acknowledged that any final opinion in this regard would be strongly influenced by the Interior Ministry which would then issue appropriate notification.
Sources revealed that the Ministry of Interior is also engaged in internal consultations over the summary sent by the Sindh government with its legal team but there was no final decision on the matter till the filing of this report. Uncertainty continues to prevail in the federal capital as to what course of action the federal government will take with respect to the resolution passed by the Sindh Assembly.
Negotiations between the federal and Sindh governments may be unlikely at this stage, informed sources told Business Recorder, as the Sindh government did not wait for the Prime Minister's return from China to further discuss the matter as he had reportedly requested. Sources within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told Business Recorder that the Prime Minister while instructing the party leaders and cabinet members not to comment on the resolution passed by the Sindh provincial assembly, decided to take input from the military.
Sources further maintained that the Prime Minister is between the devil and the deep blue sea: he cannot alienate the PPP that has politically supported his government when ever there was a crisis particularly during the PTI dharna last year, and he is also reluctant to go against the wishes of the establishment given his past experience.
Mohammad Ikram Chaudhry, former president Supreme Court Bar Association, said the provincial government's resolution has no legal status, and the anti-terror laws and the Pakistan Protection Act have already given special powers to the paramilitary forces which cannot be revisited through a resolution. He accused the provincial as well as the federal government of creating hurdles in the exercise of the special powers of the Rangers on political grounds. He further said that any political party or citizen can challenge any notification issued by Interior Ministry in a court of law.
The deployment of Rangers in Karachi is requisitioned by the provincial government under Article 147 of the Constitution, and under Clause 1 of Sub-section 3 of Section 4 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, authorised to prevent the commission of terrorist acts, or scheduled offences in notified area for the punishment of terrorist in accordance with the provision of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
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