The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the Interior Ministry and Sindh Home Department among other respondents on Tuesday to submit their comments until July 26 over the ongoing unrest and target killings in the metropolis. The SHC division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed heard a constitutional petition filed by Rana Faizul Hassan, seeking immediate action to curb violence and incidents of targeted killings.
The petitioner had submitted that at least 100 people were killed during four days of unrest in Karachi while more than 1,200 citizens have lost their lives during the first six months of the current year. Alleging federal and provincial governments of criminal negligence, the petitioner stated that despite a large number of citizens losing their lives, no serious action has been taken to stop such incidents and to take the offenders to task.
He submitted that according to Article 9, the state is fully responsible for protecting the lives and independence of its citizens but the government has failed to do so. A number of innocent citizens including lawyers and journalists have been killed during the ongoing bloody violence and it is the complete failure of the government and the law enforcers.
The petitioner stated that the province is witnessing lawlessness including targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom, life threats from extortionists and other criminals and uncertain circumstances have compelled the business community to shift their businesses to other provinces. He added that 180 citizens have been killed in the metropolitan in one month alone.
Citing Interior Ministry, Sindh Home Department, Sindh Inspector General of Police, Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Director General and other relevant authorities as respondents, the appellant pleaded that the government should be ordered to remove incompetent security officials from their posts and assign honest and deserving officials to stop targeted killings across the province.
The plaintiff also pleaded that the heirs of the deceased and the victims of targeted killings and those who lost their lives during the violence should be provided compensation. After hearing preliminary arguments by the petitioner, the court issued directives to the respondents to appear and submit their explanations on the next hearing date.
