Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday summoned Director General Narcotics Control to appear in the court on Thursday in a bail petition of accused of opium smuggling. At Karachi Registry, a two-member bench of the SC comprised of Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Mazhar Alam issued the directives after the court held the hearing on a bail application of an accused, who was apprehended while smuggling 256 kgs of opium five years back.
The counsel of accused Fazal Maula submitted before the court that the trial of his client couldn't take place for the last five years and requested the court to grant bail to the accused. The counsel stated that there is not judge as well as prosecutor in the trial court.
When the hearing commenced, the bench showed displeasure over the absence of DG Narcotics Control despite the orders of the court to appear in this case.
Narcotics Control lawyer told the bench that the DG was in Islamabad when the bench asked about his whereabouts. "If Islamabad is located in Mars that the DG couldn't come," the bench remarked. The bench also showed annoyance over the submission of the report without the signatures of the DG and stated that whether a report with the signatures of peon could be presented in the court.
The bench ordered the DG to appear in the hearing of the case on Thursday along with the complete record of the case.
Meanwhile, the SC bench turned down the pleas of three accused for bail in forgery case in the allotment of government land case. Three accused namely Safeer Channa, Somar Kalhoro and Ghulam Hussain have been charged with tampering the government land record in Thana Bola Khan Hyderabad. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested the three accused upon the rejection of their bail applications from the court premises.