The Supreme Court, in its interim order issued early Saturday, concluded that prima facie there was no coordination between the country’s forces on intelligence sharing to pre-empt terrorist acts like the one that took place last Sunday in Abbas Town.
Calling for “concerted efforts” to materialise such information between all agencies, the court stopped short of fixing responsibility on any of the institutions and asked the spy agencies to cooperate and develop an effective system to ensure protection of life and security of the general public.
The apex court observed that all of the 631 cases heard so far in the Anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) in the violence-hit city were put away for the want of evidence.
The court ordered the Sindh government to establish at least 15 to 20 more ATCs in the city as the existing courts were overburdened and not fulfilling the legal requirement of deciding cases within seven days of registration.
The court also observed that no one on behalf of the secretary interior appeared in the court to submit a report on the Abbas Town incident. No report, it said, had been submitted by spy agencies such as ISI and Military Intelligence either.
The orders came from a larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The bench comprised Justices Jawwad S Khawaja, Khilji Arif Hussain, Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan.
“We have been informed that about 631 cases are pending before the ATC No.1, 2 and 3 of Karachi and at the same time, out of the cases which have been heard, a hundred percent acquittal has been recorded,” it said. The bench ordered the prosecutor general to look into all cases wherein acquittal had been recorded and the accused had been allowed to go free and point out defects in the investigation.
The prosecutor general is also required to start proceedings against Investigation officers found responsible for the same.
The court said in future the officers must collect “incriminating evidence” so the culprits could be brought to book.
The monitoring judges of the supreme and high courts shall watch proceedings of the ATCs in terms of law, said the bench. The court also took notice of the present ATC, housed in a dilapidated building.
Citing a report from the registrar of Sindh High Court, the bench also observed that there was no arrangement of lockups inside the ATC building.
“They are confined in a cage, meant for the use of animals, which has no roof. This is a violation of article 14 of the constitution which guarantees the dignity of human beings,” it said.
The judges in these ATCs, the court said, were sitting in a place meant for a kitchen to conduct court proceedings.
The Sindh chief secretary has been directed to make immediate arrangements for housing the courts along with lockups.
On the conduct of DIG Shabbir Shaikh, presently holding the charge of IGP, the bench said it was a personal obligation of the chief secretary to inquire into the conduct of Shaikh.
Slamming the secretary interior for not appearing before the court and spy agencies for not submitting reports on Abbas Town blasts, the judges asked the concerned authorities to immediately put up reports in compliance of orders within three days.
The court also noted “painfully” that despite a suo motu judgment on the Karachi law and order case, no dedicated efforts had been made to depoliticise the police force and to assign the task of controlling law and order and preventing commission of terrorism and other crimes by appointing honest police officers.
The court directed Karachi Commissioner Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi to rehabilitate the affected people of Abbas Town.
The commissioner has also been asked |to take steps to provide subsistence allowance to the persons who had lost their businesses.
“During the hearing, we have been informed that last night 14 murders took place in Karachi. The IGP is directed to place on record the FIRs registered and ensure that all possible efforts shall be made to control crimes and officers of the rank of SSP, DIG should be held responsible, in case crime is not controlled in different areas of the city,” the bench said. Hearing will resume on March 21.
