SHC seeks report on police rules within a week

The contempt plea was filed against Sindh CM and IG for failure to comply

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Wednesday to submit a report over "whatever has been done in regard to the police rules" within a week while hearing a contempt of court plea filed against Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah and the Sindh Inspector-General of Police.

A two-member-bench, comprising Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Aziz ur Rehman, while hearing the plea remarked that the government wasn't able to make police rules even in one and a half years. The court asked the Sindh government to submit a report on the work done up till now on updating the police rules.

The petitioner's counsel, Barrister Faisal Siddiqui, remarked that the Sindh government was blind, deaf and dumb and so it was not capable of doing anything. Sindh Advocate-General Salman Talibuddin argued that the Sindh government was making a whole new set of laws for police instead of amending a few. Siddiqui argued that the government should tell what action had been taken on the judicial orders. Talibuddin said that if the government was not doing anything then Siddiqui should become an adviser to the government, to which Siddiqui mocked that he wished that Talibuddin became the Sindh CM.

The court remarked that despite the time given to the government, no progress has been made, and if there was any progress, it should be presented before the court in a report within seven days. The hearing was adjourned till March 13.

Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Executive Director Karamat Ali argued in the petition that the SHC had ordered to make changes in laws and rules regulating the appointment and transfer period of officials in the police department. The petitioner requested for contempt proceedings as the government had failed to implement the orders.

Contradiction in census

Another bench of SHC, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal, issued notice on Wednesday over the contradiction in the census records prepared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).



The two-member bench was hearing the plea in which petitioner Mureed Ali Shah had maintained that the population statistics of PBS and ECP were contradictory. According to PBS, the total population of Pakistan is 207,774,520, while according to ECP, it is 207,766,954. ECP excluded around 8,000 Pakistanis from the record. The election conducted on the basis of wrong population statistics could not be transparent.

The court issued show-cause notice to the ECP for being consistently absent and ordered it to submit an explanation by March 13.

Division of Sindh

The SHC rejected the plea on Wednesday seeking the division of the Sindh province into seven states. The verdict stated that the idea of dividing Sindh on linguistic basis would be extremely hazardous.

A two-member-bench, comprising Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh and Justice Omar Sial, announced the verdict in which they rejected the plea. The court said that the creation of new provinces was not the job of the court, but the job of the assembly.

The constitutional bill for the division of a province would require a two-thirds majority to be passed.  The verdict stated that the petitioner, Azmat Rehan, didn't have any legal argument and stressed more on Sindh being dominated by the aristocrats. Provinces couldn't be demarcated on anyone's wish, this will create anarchy within the country, the court said.

The court also expressed displeasure over the plea mentioning that Pakistanis had been slaves of Hindus and Sikhs before the partition. Sindh has been there for centuries and has played a vital role in Pakistan. The public has the constitutional right to elect their representatives but the idea of dividing Sindh on linguistic basis would be hazardous.

Missing girl

The SHC ordered on Wednesday the immediate recovery of the 14-year-old Asma "wherever she is" and produce her before the court by April 5.

A two-member-bench, comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice KK Agha, heard the plea filed on the disappearance of Asma, who worked at a bungalow, by her father Abdul Hameed.

Hameed's counsel argued that the girl was missing since 2016 and a case was filed at Darakhshan Police Station, but nothing was being done to find her. The owner of the bungalow in which Asma worked had left the house and shifted to Lahore.

The security guard and other staff were present at the house and yet the girl disappeared. She had been working there for six years and even then, the owner of the bungalow didn't cooperate with the investigation.

The investigation officer said that the girl had gone with someone on her own will. Court expressed displeasure over the non-recovery of the girl and remarked that it was the duty of the police to ensure citizens' security. The court directed the officials to recover the girl and adjourned the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2019.