A complaint was filed in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday against Senior Sindh Minister Dr Zulfiqar Ali Mirza for issuing a provoking statement through the media. Moving the plea, Rana Faiz submitted that on July 13, the minister had deliberately issued an aggravating statement.
Faiz said that within 18 hours of issuing the statement, around 18 innocent citizens lost their lives due to riots in the metropolis caused by Mirza’s statement. Besides, some 40 vehicles were set on fire and other private properties were also damaged by miscreants.
The petitioner submitted that according to Article 9 of the Constitution, the State is completely responsible for protecting the lives and properties of the citizens, but the government has failed to do so. He stated that the irresponsible statement of the senior minister had provoked the people of one particular community, while some miscreants took advantage of this situation and vandalised public properties and worsened the law and order situation.
He also blamed the electronic media for creating such a law and order situation, saying that private television channels had also played a major role in provoking the people by telecasting the same statement over and over again.
He cited the federal Law secretary, Interior Ministry, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, Sindh chief secretary (CS), Mirza, Sindh inspector general of police, South deputy inspector general, Gizri senior superintendent of police, and Defence and Preedy station house officers as respondents.
He said that legal action must be taken against the respondents for adopting such an irresponsible attitude.
He added that he had tried filing a complaint at various police stations across the city, but the law enforcers refused to register his complaint, so he had approached the court in this regard.
CENTRE, SINDH GOVT ISSUED NOTICES: The SHC also issued notices to the federal and Sindh governments on two constitutional petitions filed against restoration of the commissionerate system and the Land Revenue Act.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the preliminary arguments of the petitioners.
The court also directed its office to club the identical petitions filed by different petitioners pertaining to the same issue.
The court then adjourned the hearing for the next date to be fixed later by its office.
Representatives of the civil society and veteran Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Ajmal Dehlavi on Saturday had moved two separate constitutional petitions challenging the restoration of the commissionerate system and the Land Revenue Act.
Petitioners Barrister Habibur Rehman and Arshad Abdullah filed their petition through their counsel Qazi Khalid Ali Advocate.
They submitted that the law regarding the local body government structure has constitutional protection in several countries around the world, but the rulers in Pakistan violated the Constitution when they decided to abolish the local government system.
“It’s not a political issue; it’s a matter of the Constitution and the rule of law,” said the petitioners.
They added that the previous local body system was more beneficial for the people, and development projects would be stopped if the commissionerate system is restored.
The petitioners said that the commissionerate system would mostly affect the urban areas of the province.
Replacing the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001 with the old commissionerate system would effectively end the government’s contact with the public.
The plaintiff also stated that the system and the act are unconstitutional and should be scrapped.
Citing the federal and provincial governments as respondents, they pleaded the court to restrain the respondents from violating the Constitution.
They also pleaded the court to render the recent decision of reviving the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 1979 and the Land Revenue Act 1967 as null and void.
They also submitted that the recently implemented commissionerate system in Sindh is an attempt to deprive the people of their basic political and democratic rights, and that the commissionerate system is a reflection of a dictatorial mindset.
NOTICES REPEATED TO LAW SECRETARIES: The same bench repeated notices to the federal and Sindh Law secretaries, and the provincial CS among others on a constitutional petition pertaining to promulgation of a consumers’ protection law in the province and for establishing separate consumers’ courts.
Sindh advocate general (AG) and City District Government Karachi (CDGK)’s counsel Manzoor Ahmed appeared before the bench that was conducting a hearing on a petition filed by Rana Faizul Hassan pleading to promulgate a consumers’ protection law to protect the consumers’ rights across the province.
The AG requested the court to grant him further time to submit his comments on behalf of the government.
The court granted his request and directed the respondents to submit their explanation in the next hearing.
Earlier, the petitioner had submitted his preliminary arguments before the court, saying that consumers across the province are being exploited due to non-existence of a consumers’ protection law.
Besides, none of the governments in the past have taken any initiative to protect the rights of the consumers.
In the petition, he had stated that relevant laws exist in the rest of the provinces where the protection of the consumers is ensured through legislations.
He said that separate consumers’ courts have been established in the rest of the provinces and they are working well enough to provide relief to the consumer on daily basis.
He added that the district coordination officers (DCOs) are responsible for addressing the complaints of the consumers and take action against retailers if found involved in illegal acts.
He submitted that due to absence of a similar law in Sindh, the consumers are continuously being looted by retailers.
Sindh CS, Sindh Law minister, Sindh Industries and Commerce minister and CDGK DCO were cited as respondents.
