Missing doctors: High court summons Middle East director-general

Father of missing brothers petitions against authorities.

KARACHI:

The Middle East director-general for the ministry of foreign affairs was summoned by a division bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in a petition on the missing doctors Akmal and Arshad Waheed.

Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi heard the petition filed by Ajmal Waheed, their father. The two men went missing in April 2010 from Dubai.

When the petition came up for hearing on Thursday, the court found out that the Middle East DG, who was asked at the last hearing to inform the bench of the case’s progress, was not present.

The bench expressed dismay over his absence and ordered the respondent officer to appear in person at the next hearing, which would be held after two weeks.

One of the brothers was reported to be killed in a drone attack in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Water board MD, finance secy called to court

Annoyed at the persistent disinterest of the finance secretary, the Sindh High Court ordered the secretary and other officials to appear before it at the next hearing.

Petitioner Syed Iqbal Kazmi moved the court to ask for a water pipeline to be laid out in UC-5 and its adjoining areas. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) was ordered to lay the pipeline but it was unable to do so because of a lack of funds. It had prepared a feasibility report (PC-1) and asked the finance secretary for money, to no avail. Even the court asked him to provide the money but he ignored the orders.

On Thursday, the petitioner pointed out that the finance secretary had been disobeying court orders and despite reminders by Sindh Advocate General, the secretary had failed to reply.

The AAG, who was representing the Sindh government, confirmed that he wrote three letters to the secretary.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, adjourned for later and ordered the finance secretary, local government secretary and KWSB managing director to appear before the bench then.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2011.