Hearing a suo motu case on the massacre of Shia Hazara community members in Quetta, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of government and its agencies, saying the government was a mere spectator in the incident which had shaken the entire country.
A three-member bench headed by the CJP heard the case. The bench observed that Article 90 of the constitution was not being followed in the country.
The court also sought by Wednesday (today) the replies of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi about the steps taken to provide security to the Hazara community.
Interior Secretary Khawaja Muhammad Siddique Akbar submitted a report on the behalf of Intelligence Bureau (IB) to which the CJP said that the IB should be doing other things apart from spying on judges. The court directed the interior secretary to enquire how a tanker carrying 800 to 1,000 kilogrammes of explosives had reached the site of the blast that had killed 90 people.
The court said the country’s chief executive should have personally visited Quetta instead of sending a delegation to address the grievances of the Hazara community members who were staging a sit-in with dead bodies. The CJP said the incident was a failure of 16 secret agencies to which the interior secretary said that he needed more time to present a detailed report. The CJP asked him to arrest the culprits and not ask for more time. Defence Secretary Asif Yasin also appeared before the court.
The CJP noted that the court could not order the deployment of the army because that was beyond its parameters, adding that the federal and provincial governments had failed to control the situation.
The CJP said that a similar incident had occurred in Quetta a month ago, asking Balochistan Advocate General (AG) Amanullah Kinrani that how many accused had been arrested. Kinrani replied that only four suspects had been killed in an encounter.
Tariq Asad, a petitioner, suggested that Article 245 of the constitution should be enforced in the province. “If we will continue to save democracy, the lives will not be saved,” he said.
The CJP then said that the court would only ask for the protection of the fundamental rights of the citizens. He said that calling the army was the job of the government, and the court would not pass any order in this regard.
Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said that the federal government was “sleeping”. Justice Gulzar Ahmed said that the federal government did not know what was happening in the country. He said people were protesting but there was no one to hear their voice. “About hundred dead bodies are lying on the road for four days, but the government did nothing”, he said.
Mr CJP what you are talking about? Our government has no time to think about security of people …!
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