Police restricted from further arrests in Bahria Town case

SHC commutes target killers’ death sentences to life imprisonment

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court restricted the police on Tuesday from arresting more people in the Bahria Town vandalism case.

Hearing the petition filed by Sindh United Party Chairperson Jalal Mehmood Shah and Sajjad Chandio, a two-member bench comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Irshad Ali Shah expressed annoyance at the absence of the investigation officer of the police.

Replying to a question by the bench, the defence counsel informed that there were 40,000 unidentified people nominated in the case, giving the police a free hand to implicate anyone they like. The court remarked that police will continue arresting the unidentified persons until the investigation goes on.

The court restricted the police from making any further arrests and adjourned the hearing till September 6 due to the absence of Bahria Town counsel Farooq H Naik and the Sindh prosecutor-general.

Sentences commuted

Meanwhile, the same bench commuted on Tuesday the death sentences awarded to two persons convicted of sectarian target killing while rejecting their pleas for acquittal. The court ruled on the appeals of convicts Munir and Kamal, both members of banned sectarian outfit - Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,­ against capital punishment awarded by the trial court for the murder of Zainul Abideen Advocate in 2011.

According to the prosecutor, the convicts had opened fire on the car of former SHC judge Justice (retd) Zawar Hussain Jaffery parked outside his home. However, Jaffery was inside his home. Instead, the bullets hit Zainul Abideen who had come to visit Jaffery.

The perpetrators tried to escape but their car hit the wall of a house, and they were rounded up by the police on the spot. A case was registered against them at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station.

Both were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court. The ATC had separately sentenced the two convicts for possession of illegal firearms.

Plea rejected

Another two-member bench comprising Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi and Justice Kausar Sultana Hussain rejected the petition filed by a private contractor against alleged corruption in the award of a contract for construction of a running track and football ground in the NED University.

Read Miscreants vandalise properties at Bahria Town Karachi

The petitioner's lawyer Nehal Hashmi argued that TS Builders was awarded a contract worth Rs80 million despite availability of a lower bidder.

Counsel for TS Builders Muhammad Wawda maintained that the construction work was completed last year and the petitioner was hiding reasons for rejecting the bid. The court, expressing its anger at the petitioner for concealing the facts, rejected the petition against awarding the contract.

Encroachment on amenity plot

Another SHC bench comprising Justice Irfan Sadaat Khan and Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam ordered demolishment of illegal construction raised on an amenity plot in Block-2, PECHS within seven days. The bench while hearing the K-Electric's petition against illegal constructions around its grid station expressed anger over the SBCA officer, saying it was an order for complete demolition and yet he had come back after only razing a wall. Justice Irfan Saadat Khan remarked that no construction will be tolerated on the amenity plot.

The court directed SBCA officials to demolish the three-storey building and submit a report within seven days. The court also directed the PECHS secretary to appear at the next hearing. In the petition, it was maintained that there is an electric grid station adjacent to Government Girls High School and construction work near the grid station is extremely dangerous. The construction poses serious threats to the grid station; therefore, construction on the Government Girls High School plot should be stopped forthwith.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2021.