SC questions govt’s will in resolving Balochistan issue

Hearing a case pertaining to worsening law and order and alarming increase in incidents of targeted killings and abductions for ransom in Balochistan, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday said time was being wasted over the Balochistan issue instead of finding a resolution.
Heading a three-member bench comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez, the chief justice questioned why the government was not establishing its writ in the province, adding that who had stopped it from doing so. The court sought a detailed report by March 22 from the Balochistan chief secretary and inspector general of police on incidents of growing atrocities and abductions for ransom as well as about the abduction of an advocate, Hamza Shawani, and trader Zohaib, who was assassinated.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Hadi Shakeel Ahmed on law and order and growing incidents of targeted killings in Balochistan. The chief justice observed that the situation in the province was very serious as every day lawyers, government officials and others were being picked up and nobody knew their whereabouts.
He expressed annoyance over the growing incidents of abduction for ransom and targeted killings, saying the task to maintain law and order fell under the jurisdiction of concerned chief police officer, but he (Balochistan IGP) preferred staying in Islamabad instead of delivering in the province.
At the onset of hearing, the chief justice took serious exception on the absence of the top two Balochistan officials, to which Balochistan Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani told the court that both officials could not turn up due to bad weather.
He, however, admitted that the rate of adductions for ransom had increased, whereas incidents of targeted killings and missing persons had been reduced. The chief justice said police had failed to maintain the law and order, adding that people in Quetta were being killed in broad day light. He said the abduction of Advocate Hamza Shawani and murder of Zohaib took place in congested vicinity of the city and close to a police station. “It is time to establish the writ of government in Balochistan because worsening law and order in the province does not mean laying down weapons,” the chief justice remarked. The court also rejected the request of Kanrani that the case be heard at Quetta registry of the apex court.
Meanwhile, the court directed the Sindh IGP to appear before the court on the next hearing with a report on the killing of wife and daughter of Balochistan’s MPA Mir Bakhtiar Domki.