Ovais Ali Shah. PHOTO: FILE
The Supreme Court also issued notices to the interior secretary and heads of intelligence agencies for July 21 on a petition seeking the recovery of Barrister Ovais Ali Shah, who was kidnapped on June 20 by armed men from outside a superstore in the upscale neighbourhood of Clifton.
A five-judge apex court bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, heard the petition filed by the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) on Friday.
Taking exception to the absence of the interior secretary despite the issuance of an earlier summon, the judges directed him to personally appear before the bench at the next hearing.
SHCBA counsel Khalid Javed Khan said the legal fraternity was seriously concerned over the kidnapping of the son of the SHC chief justice who had still not been traced after 25 days.
The petitioner had requested the court to direct the federal and provincial home ministries and the Rangers and police chiefs to take all requisite measures immediately to rescue Barrister Ovais and arrest the culprits.
The bench directed the federal government to ensure the early recovery of Barrister Shah with the help of all the federal and provincial agencies and submit reports through the law officers.
The court issued notices to the interior secretary, director-generals of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau among other respondents for July 21 to submit a progress report.
The judges noted that a few days before the kidnapping incident, a smear campaign against the superior judiciary was also launched through social and electronic media, but no action was been taken by the authorities.
Holding the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) responsible for taking action, the court issued summon notices to the chairpersons of the three organisations at the next hearing.
Sindh police chief AD Khawaja told the court that police officers of the Clifton police station, as well as Madadgar-15, had been found guilty of negligence, as per the inquiry conducted by DIG East into the abduction case.
He said the Services and General Administration Department would take action against the officers ranked BS-17 and above while the Karachi CCPO would take action against officers ranked below BS-17.
On the IGP’s request for police access to the database of the National Database Regulatory Authority (Nadra) and cellphone service providers, the bench sought comments from the additional attorney general.
The Sindh AG was directed to file a report on the compliance of the top court’s directives issued against the de-politicisation of the police force while the IGP and Sindh Rangers law officer were told to file a consolidated report showing comparative statistics on proclaimed reduction of crimes.
Crime statistics
Police authorities also filed a report on targeted killings, terrorism, land grabbing and kidnapping for ransom cases in Karachi in compliance with a July 4 order of the apex court.
According to the report, 857 people were killed in targeted attacks between 2013 and 2015 while only 630 such cases were registered with the police. Of them charge-sheets were filed in 222 cases while 408 cases remain untraced. Another 42 cases were worked out after the untraced cases were reopened on the SC’s directives.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2016.
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