Law enforcement failure: Senior judges get together to discuss case of SHC CJ’s son

Full court meeting likely to echo in SC hearing of Karachi law and order case today

KARACHI: In a rare move, senior judges sat together on Thursday to discuss the kidnapping of the son of Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice who has been missing for three weeks.

The full court reference, attended by around 20 judges, was presided over by SHC’s senior puisne judge Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh. The meeting was held at SHC’s committee room.

The judges asked the president and the prime minister ensure the safe recovery of Barrister Ovais Ali Shah, who was abducted from outside Agha’s Supermarket in Clifton on June 21. They said that the abduction of the provincial chief justice’s son is against the independence of the judiciary that might hamper the dispensation of justice to the citizens.

A day earlier on Wednesday, senior SHC judges had held a rare meeting where they had expressed their concerns over the law enforcers’ failure to ensure Ovais’ early recovery. Therefore, they decided to convene a full court meeting over the matter.



“They [judges] have shown their grave concern that almost 24 days have passed, however, the law enforcement agencies have failed to recover the abductee,” read a statement issued by SHC registrar Ghulam Mustafa Memon.

It further reads that, “They [judges] are of the view that the abduction of the chief justice’s son is against independence of the judiciary”. “The judges and their family members are exposed to any untoward incidence of like nature, which might hamper the dispensation of justice and may create sense of insecurity among all the citizens of Pakistan,” it added.

After detailed deliberation, it was resolved that the judges have shown their commitment to dispensing justice to the public at large without any fear or favour and will continue to discharge their duties in accordance with the mandate of the Constitution.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter, the SHC judges asked that the “president and the prime minister should use their good offices to ensure the safe recovery of chief justice’s son”.

The judges of the provincial apex court decided that since the Sindh High Court Bar Association had already filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the abduction and non-recovery of Ovais, therefore, they will await the fate of such proceedings and its results.

At the full court meeting, the judges of the high court also expressed their concerns over the safety and security of their families and expressed their discomfort as no useful steps had been taken so far to enhance their security by the relevant departments.

Concluding the full court meeting, the judges decided that the future course of action will be decided in the next meeting, as may be convened in the light of further development.

This full court reference is likely to echo in the Supreme Court, which will meet today to hear at the Karachi Registry the update of investigations into the kidnapping of SHC CJ’s son. This issue will be raised during the proceedings of Karachi law and order suo motu implementation case.

A full bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, which previously came down hard on the Sindh government over the manner in which the police had handled the kidnapping case, is expected to see further progress in investigations.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2016.