Police taken to court for hiring Muslims on minorities’ quota seats

Hearing of tax collection dispute between IMC and CDA adjourned

ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the Islamabad Police for allegedly hiring Muslims on quotas reserved for minorities.

Asif Mahmood Rehan filed a petition, through Advocate Haroonur Rasheed, on behalf of minorities, wherein he listed the establishment secretary, Islamabad Police IG and AIG as respondents in the case.

Rehan maintained that the government had reserved 18 seats for members of minority communities for recruitment in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police. However, only Muslim candidates were recruited.

The petitioner stated that a five per cent minority quota for the hiring of ASIs and constables was advertised in national newspapers.

Candidates from the minority communities qualified in the written test and interview but were not employed under the quota he contended, recalling that as per the Supreme Court’s ruling, no one else could be recruited on the minority quota.

The petition said the matter was brought before the Islamabad IG but he has yet to take any action on the complaint.

Tax collection row

The hearing of a case on tax collection dispute between the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was adjourned because Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani is on leave.

At the last hearing of the case, the IHC had sought arguments from the parties. The IMC had filed a petition against the CDA on the collection of property tax which stated that Rs4 billion collected by CDA as property tax over three years should be handed over to the IMC and that the court should prevent the CDA from collecting property tax.

IIUI clash

Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Ali Warraich sought arguments from the petitioner over a bail plea filed by the eight suspects, including Amirullah, Hadiullah, Ali Naqi Ammar, Mustafiz, Sarfraz, Abdul Samad, Noor, Mohammad Asghar and others, who had been arrested in the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) clash case.

A student had been killed while dozens were injured in the clash between activists of Saraiki Students Council and the Islami Jamiat Tulba.

During Friday’s hearing, the suspects’ lawyers had sought to argue in favour of bail. However, owing to the paucity of time, the plaintiff's lawyer could not complete his arguments. The court has directed the plaintiff's lawyer to continue his arguments at the next hearing and adjourned it hearing until Saturday, January 25.