Target Killings: SHC converts first CPLC chief’s letter into petition

Former CPLC chief's letter on target killings in Karachi converted into a constitutional petition.

KARACHI:

Sindh High Court Chief Justice Mushir Alam has converted a letter on target killings in Karachi into a constitutional petition, which was heard on Friday.

The letter was sent to Alam by Nazim F Haji, the first chief of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC). During the hearing, the Sindh additional advocate general sought time to file comments on the case and requested an adjournment.

The bench, comprising Alam and Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, allowed the request and adjourned the hearing for a date to be fixed later by the office of the court. It also ordered the court office to inform the petitioner about the next hearing and “if no one appears, the court may pass any order that it deems appropriate”.

In his letter, Haji expressed his concern over what he said were “rampant targeted killings in Karachi on a daily basis”. Target killings are between political groups and the criminal mafias, he said. He requested the SHC chief justice to take suo motu notice and “to end this vicious circle of violence/killings between these parties”. The former chief suggested the authorities form a committee of residents to bring an end to the killings and he offered his services as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2011.