Lal Masjid operation: SC seeks govt’s reply on seminary reconstruction

ISLAMABAD:

The top court has sought the federal government’s comments on its eight-year-old verdict of rebuilding Jamia Hafsa.

The seminary attached to Lal Majid was badly damaged in the July 2007 military operation against suspected militants holed up inside the compound.

Last week, Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz had filed an application in the apex court, requesting it to direct the authorities to implement the Supreme Court’s October 2, 2007 verdict.

The top court had directed the federal government to register an FIR for desecration of the Holy Quran and murder of innocent people inside Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa during the military operation. The court had told the government to provide monetary compensation to the heirs of the victims and also reconstruct Jamia Hafsa within one year and arrange for education, boarding and lodging of female students.

On Thursday, the three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan asked the Attorney General of Pakistan to tell the court what had been done so far against the court’s verdict.

Tariq Asad, the counsel for Aziz, claimed he was denied access to the documents submitted before the Lal Masjid Commission in sealed envelopes though the report had been made public. “Access to those envelopes will help disclose the true facts of the Lal Masjid operation,” he contended.

The court directed the AGP to go through the sealed documents and then tell the judges about their contents in the open court. The bench also asked the AGP to submit a report on how far the disclosures in these documents would have a detrimental impact on the integrity of the country.


Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2015.