Expressing concerns over the brutal killing of provincial minister Mir Bakhtiar Domki’s wife and daughter on January 30 in Karachi, the Supreme Court on Monday observed that it was one of the most sensitive incidents having its own repercussions on the situation prevailing in Balochistan, and gave the provincial government four days to arrest the murderers.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that the incident had resulted in unrest in the entire province as the public had observed a complete strike in the province.
Appearing on notice, Sindh Inspector General Police Mushtaq Ahmed Shah submitted a report over the incident, but the court rejected it saying that so far no effective progress had been made by police. “In our view, the Sindh IG should have taken all necessary steps in tracing the offenders and causing their arrest,” the court said.
The Sindh IG stated that extensive measures were being taken by him and he was confident that he would succeed in arresting the culprits. He requested the court to give him time. “Mr IG, this is your personal responsibility to arrest the culprits without fear and favour – go ahead,” the CJ remarked.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain hinted that there might be foreign hand behind this incident. The IG said he knew the importance of the matter as the president of Pakistan had telephoned him twice about the case. He informed the court that police had traced the killers of three lawyers in Karachi.
Meanwhile, expressing dissatisfaction over the Sindh government for not fully implementing the court’s judgement in the Karcahi targeted killing case, the chief justice said the court had given very supportive judgement, which empowered the law enforcement agencies to remove the “no-go areas” and depoliticise the police but it was not complied with.
He said every section of the society had welcomed the court’s judgement, but the law enforcement agencies of Sindh had not benefited from it.
Sindh Advocate General Fateh Malik contended that overall law and order in the province was good, except few sectarian incidents, which had taken place recently.
The court observed that these sectarian incidents should also not be taking place, as it was the duty of the government to maintain law and order. The court directed the Sindh AG and the IG to appear in person on the next date of hearing along with the progress report.
The proceedings were adjourned until February 10.
