The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday asked the Frontier Corps (FC) commandant how the Quetta carnage had occurred despite the presence of six FC checkposts in the area.
A three-member SC bench resumed the hearing of the suo motto case regarding the attack on the Hazara community in Quetta . Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry chaired the bench.
The Balochistan home secretary, Attorney General Irfan Qadir, The defence ministry’s director, Commander Shahbaz and Quetta Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Zubair Ahmed were present in the court.
The CJP said that despite the presence of police and FC, such a big tragedy had taken place, asking who was responsible for the killings. He said that illegal vehicles were being used in sabotage activities.
He said that after imposing governor’s rule, the prime minister and the Balochistan governor were equally responsible. After packing up democracy in the province, the people cannot get rid of terrorism, he added.
The AG presented a joint report on behalf of the president and the prime minister in the court, in which details of the government’s strategy to deal with such incidents in future was described. The SC also agreed to a request by the AG for keeping secret the replies of the president and prime minister.
Commander Shahbaz tabled a report on behalf of the defence ministry in which it was told that the Military Intelligence (MI) was not a field agency, whereas the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had the institutions to fight against terrorism.
The Quetta CCPO told the court that he had information about terrorist attacks, and police had been on red alert for the last five months, but added that he did not have any prior knowledge regarding the particular incident.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain said that a lot of funding was at work behind terrorism. “It can be eradicated by tracing out the source of this background money,” he said adding that the whole world had controlled terrorism but in Pakistan, the organisations concerned did not have the courage to fight it.
He said that the Supreme Court had earlier ordered to install CCTV cameras in big cities including Quetta, blocking unregistered mobile phone SIMs, and confiscating illegal vehicles, but the government had not implemented the instructions.
The court directed the attorney general to hold a meeting with the Balochistan home secretary and the Quetta CCPO, and review the reports submitted by secret agencies in this regard so that the responsibility may be fixed on officials who had shown negligence.
The court instructed the Quetta CCPO to take solid measures for the protection of not only the Hazara community but also all people. The bench adjourned the proceedings until February 26.