Jailed abroad: SC says octogenarian’s case is out of jurisdiction

CJ says foreign affairs ministry committed to remitting sentence.


Qaiser Zulfiqar June 16, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


The Supreme Court disposed of a constitutional petition on Wednesday related to Pakistani educationist and scientist Dr Syed Muhammad Khalil Chishti’s sentence remission and repatriation to Pakistan, declaring the matter to be out of its jurisdiction.


A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was hearing a plea moved by Syed Iqbal Haider on behalf of Shoa Jawaid, the daughter of the octogenarian doctor and office bearer of All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) and the Legal Aid Call Centre (LACC).

Legal adviser of the foreign ministry Sher Bhadur produced a letter in the court which highlighted efforts made by the Pakistani High Commission in New Dehli, showing that it had forwarded a request to the Indian authorities for granting remission to Dr Chisiti on humanitarian grounds.

The chief justice observed that the ministry of foreign affairs was committed for remitting Dr Chisti’s sentence, adding that the apex court could not pass an order in this regard.

Syed Iqbal Haider, the petitioners’ lawyer, cited an Indian Supreme Court judgment of March 14 this year in which it had directed India’s solicitor-general to request Pakistani authorities to consider the appeal of a prisoner Gopal Dass for remitting the remaining prison term and release him on humanitarian grounds.

Dr Chishti had been implicated in a murder case in India in 1992, while he was on a visit to see his ailing mother. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in India in December last year.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.

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