On the eve of the hearing of a plea against Karachi violence, the Supreme Court officials found an anonymous letter from the parking lot of the building threatening to bomb the court and the Presidency. However, the chief justice rubbished the threats and decided to head a five-member special bench to hear the plea. The security in and around the Supreme Court building has been put on high alert after receiving the letter.
The Supreme Court registrar brought the letter to the notice of the chief justice and also informed law enforcement agencies and the Bomb Disposal Squad of the development. The Bomb Disposal Squad then skimmed through the court building, including the parking lot and declared it free of any explosives. A police team headed by an ASP also searched the SC building and searched the surrounding areas.
They later declared the building fit for routine operations. The letter said a powerful bomb had been planted in the Supreme Court building, which would explode on August 25, 26 or 27. Those who wrote the letter claimed that they had been present at court premises in their vehicle even on August 25, saying the bomb had been planted in the court on Thursday. They said police was a party to the plan and had helped them enter the premises.
The letter added that the men had received Rs 2.5 million for planting the bomb. A five-member special bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, will today (Friday) initiate proceedings of a suo motu notice taken over incidents of targeted killings in Karachi. The chief justice had taken the suo motu notice of the matter on an appeal by the chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Dr Allama Tahirul Qadri, carried by a section of the media the other day.
