May 12 carnage case: SHC seeks comments from federal, provincial governments

Bench also issue notice to Sindh IG for failing to provide security to petitioner

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) sought on Monday comments from the federal and provincial governments on a petition filed by a human rights activist seeking formation of a larger bench to hear the May 12 carnage case.

The SHC bench, comprising Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar, issued directions on the constitutional petition filed by Syed Iqbal Kazmi. The bench directed the former interior secretary, former home adviser Wasim Akhtar (now Karachi mayor), ex-home secretary Brigadier (retd) Ghulam Muhammad Mohtaram, former Sindh Rangers director-general and others to file their comments.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain is also among the respondents for his alleged instigation of violence in Karachi that claimed more than 50 lives and left over 100 injured that fateful day. The bench also issued a notice to the Sindh IG for failing to provide security to the petitioner in compliance with its earlier order.

Kazmi has maintained that the provincial authorities failed to maintain law and order during the then deposed top judge Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's visit to Karachi. He says that the MQM chief, mayor and others are responsible for that mayhem.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2016.