Activists to appeal rejection of plea seeking probe into IGP’s 'abduction'

Rights activists and civil society members who had moved the Supreme Court (SC) for the formation of a judicial commission to probe Sindh IGP Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar's alleged abduction announced on Friday that they would file an administrative appeal challenging the decision of the apex court's registrar not to entertain their petition.

They had filed the petition on October 27 and the SC's registrar had issued a notification declaring it "not entertainable" on October 29.

In a joint statement criticising the decision, the petitioners highlighted that the registrar had refused to entertain the petition primarily on the grounds of neither finding Mahar's abduction a matter of public interest, nor a violation of human rights. 

The notification by the Registrar's Office stated, "The petitioners have not pointed out as to what questions of public importance in the instant case are involved with reference to enforcement of any of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, so as to directly invoke jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution."

Expressing "surprise and shock" over the objection, the petitioners maintained, "[At present] if there is any matter of public importance [in Pakistan] and involves fundamental rights, it is the kidnapping/ detention of the IGP."

They further expressed concern over such petitions being "defeated by illegal orders of the Registrar Office and the constitutional remedy [provided] under Article 184(3) of the 1973 Constitution being rendered redundant." 

They added that as members of civil society, they intended to challenge "these harmful trends" and would file an administrative appeal.

In their petition seeking the formation of a judicial commission, submitted through Advocate Faisal Siddiqi, they had referred to media reports suggesting the involvement of law enforcement personnel in Mahar's alleged abduction, terming it a cause for concern in the safeguarding of citizens' fundamental constitutional rights.

They had further maintained that the incident raised questions about the enforcement of provincial autonomy and the preservation of federal structure of governance as enshrined in the Constitution.

However, the SC registrar's notification said the petitioners had invoked the "extraordinary jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution for the redressal of a personal grievance, which is not permissible." It further stated that they had not approached any suitable forum for the purpose, adding that the petition's language was "ambiguous and misconceived".   

On October 20, several senior officials of the Sindh Police had submitted leave applications in the wake of Mahar's alleged kidnapping the previous day, reportedly to pressure the police into arresting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's Captain (retd) Safdar.

Following this, the Sindh government and the Chief of Army Staff had taken notice of the incident and the latter had ordered an immediate inquiry into it.

In light of the orders for the inquiry, Mahar had then requested all police officials to set aside their leave applications for 10 days.

However, 17 days on, no inquiry has been brought forward nor have those responsible for the incident have been identified, the petitioners pointed out. "[This] raises serious doubts on the sincerity of federal and Sindh government and institutions working under them in addressing this grave situation."

According to them, this made it even more vital for the SC to address the questions raised in their petition.

The petitioners include Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's IA Rehman, Women's Action Forum's Anis Haroon, National Trade Union Federation's Nasir Mansoor, Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research's Karamat Ali, Aurat Foundation's Mahnaz Rahman, lawyer Jibran Nasir, and others.