ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that the state of law and order in Balochistan was critical and ordered the Balochistan government to take into confidence the intelligence agencies – Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) – to resolve the issue. A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani said that all intelligence agencies were answerable to the government as well as the court under the law, thus their cooperation should also have to be sought.
The court ordered Balochistan Advocate General Dr Salahuddin Mengal to provide the federal government, for its consideration, a report created by the provincial government and submitted to the court on the worsening law and order in the province.
The chief justice said the rights of the people of the province were being usurped. He said either a dead body is found or someone goes missing every day in the province. “When the chief minister and chief secretary can be attacked in the province, how can a common man be safe?” he questioned.
Appearing on notice, Mengal and Chief Secretary Ahmad Bukhsh Lehri told the court that two abducted judges had been found, whereas efforts were underway to recover the kidnapped lawyers. They said that steps had either already been taken or would be taken soon by the provincial government to overcome the situation, and that the “commissionary system” had been restored in the province. They said the chief minister would soon be convening a tribal jirga and an all-parties conference, which would help control the situation. They said local government elections would soon be held in the province as well.
They said further that more recruitment was being made in law enforcement agencies. “These are long, time-consuming steps, quicker action should also be taken,” the chief justice said. He said the playing of the National Anthem was being disallowed in schools across the province and prima facie, the suspects in cases of terrorism, kidnapping, robbery and target-killings were not being arrested, which was unfortunate, the chief justice stated.Later the court adjourned till the next hearing, which would be after a month. The petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Balochistan High Court Bar Association.
