SC rejects Sindh govt’s report on Karachi unrest

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Sindh government’s report on the unrest in Karachi and told the attorney general to sit with the intelligence agencies, collect detailed information and submit a comprehensive report by August 29. A five-member special bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing a suo motu notice taken against the law and order situation in Karachi.
The court clubbed a petition seeking proclamation of emergency and armed forces in Karachi with the suo motu notice, and also issued notices to the prime minister and interior minister. The court asked the federal and provincial government to devise a plan to normalise the situation in Karachi. The apex court also asked why the intelligence agencies did not exchange information with the law enforcement agencies and told them to share reports with each other and take stern action against those involved in criminal incidents.
The report, submitted by Sindh Advocate General Abdul Fatah Malik, had stated that in the last month a total of 306 people were killed, 232 cases were registered, 117 assassins were arrested, challans of 179 accused were submitted and 500 cases of rioting were registered. Rejecting the report, the court noted that it was not stated which groups were involved in the incidents of targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.
The court fixed further hearing of the case for August 29 in the Karachi branch registry of the Supreme Court, and ordered the federal and provincial authorities concerned to submit comprehensive reports containing detailed information and material so that the court could ascertain which constitutional provisions had been violated. The court ordered Malik to submit a comprehensive report with reference to records of police stations and the details of incidents in which people were tortured to death.
The court asked him to convey to the chief secretary and Sindh police inspector general that they had to give a presentation over the issue in the courtroom on the next hearing with details of the incidents that took place in the last month, enabling the court to evaluate how serious the police was in pursuing the cases. The court demanded that the reports should highlight the number of incidents, the instances where police had failed to arrest culprits, and progress on proceedings in courts.
The Supreme Court noted that media reports indicated that gangs were involved in inhuman incidents such as beheading or chopping off the limbs of their victims. During the hearing, Attorney General Moulvi Anwarul Haq told the court that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had come up with the stance that the Karachi unrest was a provincial issue. The chief justice noted that there was a reported daily loss of Rs 25 billion if Karachi was shut down.
He said the suo motu notice was the demand of 18 million people. He said no one found guilty would be spared and the proceedings of the cases would not be ordinary. He said the court would also request the Sindh High Court chief justice to monitor cases involving the Karachi unrest for swift disposal. To a court query, Malik said that an accused, who had confessed to killing around 100 people, was acquitted on the basis of lack of evidence. The court told him that the acquittal or sentence of an accused depended on the functioning of the prosecutors and they had to devise a standard to provide solid evidence so that the accused could be punished.
“Why was the person who was chopping off people’s heads allowed to continue?” Justice Ghulam Rabbani asked. Malik stated that similar a situation had emerged in 2004 and it was for the first time that the court took notice of the situation. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, counsel for the Sindh chief minister, told the court that in his personal opinion calling the army to Karachi was no solution to the issue, rather all segments of society should put their heads together to sort out the solution.
He admitted, however, that there were crooks in every department. He said certain areas were dominated by warlords. “When influential people are above the law, the result is a complete breakdown of law and order,” said the chief justice.