Balochistan chief secretary will submit today (Monday) a comprehensive report on the incidents of target killing in Balochistan from January 2008 to date, showing progress on a case-to-case basis.
A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani will hear a petition moved by Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Hadi Shakeel against the increasing incidents of violence, target killings and abductions for ransom, seeking protection to people’s lives and properties in the province.
In his petition, he has cited several instances of brutal murders of lawyers and others.
.The Balochistan chief secretary and the advocate general as well as the attorney general will appear before the court on notice. On the last hearing, the court had ordered the chief secretary to again submit a comprehensive report that should cover the incidents of target killings and abductions for ransom from January 2008 to date, showing progress on a case-to-case basis. Earlier, on May 16, Balochistan Chief Secretary Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri who appeared on notice informed the court that 181 bodies had been found and 260 people lost their lives in the incidents of target killing over the last three years in Balochistan.
He presented a comprehensive report on law and order, saying that about 511 people had been injured in different incidents while the provincial government had disbursed Rs 136 million as compensation among the victims’ families. The chief secretary claimed the law and order situation had slightly improved after the provincial government took effective measures, including installation of CCTV cameras at all entry and exit points of Quetta. But the court rejected the report as unsatisfactory and said the provincial administration had utterly failed to provide protection to people. The chief secretary has so far been unable to tell the court the exact number of people arrested for their involvement in the killings.
