A constitutional petition was filed in the Sindh High Court seeking deployment of army in Karachi and Hyderabad to bring the deteriorating law and order situation in the two cities under control.
The petition was filed by Rana Faizul Hassan, who submitted that in the current circumstances, the army should be deployed for three months in the two cities, particularly in Karachi, under Article 245 of the Constitution to protect the lives and properties of citizens, as the provincial government has failed to achieve this task.
He stated that the army has been deputed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to tackle terrorism and the same measures need to be taken in Karachi and Hyderabad as they are also part of the country and facing similar circumstances. He added that in 1992, the army was called out in Karachi under Article 245 and the same step should be taken now. “According to Article 9 of the constitution, the state is fully responsible for protecting the lives and independence of people, but the government and law enforcement agencies have failed to fulfil these responsibilities,” he said.
He submitted that due to lawlessness prevailing across Karachi, citizens are suffering and extremely frightened, as no concrete step has been taken by the government to control the situation so far. “The government is violating articles 4, 8, 9, 15, 6, 17, 19, 24 and 204 of the Constitution by not providing security to people,” he added.
Quoting media reports, the plaintiff maintained that 15,000 people have been killed by unidentified assailants in Karachi during just seven months in incidents of ethnic violence and 91 people were reportedly killed during six days in current unrest.
The plaintiff said that more than 45,000 security personnel including 32,000 police and 15,000 Rangers are deployed in Karachi, but they have failed to do their job. The petitioner submitted that the innocent citizens are suffering due to lawlessness, targeted killings, kidnappings for ransom and harassment at the hands of extortionists
“This is also compelling traders to shift their businesses to other provinces,” he added. The federal government, Interior Ministry, interior secretary, Law and Justice Ministry, Defence Ministry and the Sindh inspector general of police were cited as respondents. The court admitted the petition would conduct its hearing on Tuesday (today).
