IHC restores fines in missing persons’ case

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday dismissed all the intra-court appeals of the federal government against the imposition of fines on officials who held the relevant posts in 2018 in a case of enforced disappearance.

A two-member bench, led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and including Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the appeals. During the hearing the bench raised questions about the performance of the Missing Persons Commission.

On the non-recovery of citizens — Sajid Mehmood, Umar Abdullah, Mudassar Naro — an IHC single bench had imposed Rs100,000 on Lt-Gen (retd) Zameerul Hasan Shah, who was the defence secretary in 2018.

The bench also imposed a similar fine each on then chief commissioner Zulfiqar Haider, inspector general Khalid Khattak and deputy commissioner Mushtaq Ahmed. Besides Rs300,000 fine was imposed on the then station house officer (SHO) of Qaiser Naz police station.

At the outset of the hearing, the chief justice asked the Additional Attorney General (AAG) Munawwar Iqbal Dogal whether there was any good news in the case of those missing persons. However, Dogal replied that there was no progress in the investigation.

The chief justice remarked that many years had passed and even the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), including the then AGP Khalid Javed Khan had appeared many times before the court and every time the court was told that there was no progress. On that AAG Dogal sought one month’s time.

Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb said in his remarks that everyone should be treated equally According to the Constitution. After the arguments, the court dismissed all intra-court appeals by the federal government against the single bench’s verdict and restored the fines imposed on the officers.

Chief Justice Amir Farooq inquired during the hearing what the government intended to do about the missing persons commission. He inquired whether the commission chairman and members drew salaries, further questioning if it was a burden on the public coffers.

Dogal said that the commission had dealt with 7,500 cases out of 10,500. The chief justice remarked that these figures should be put on display in the D-Chowk. “These are just figures,” he said. Barrister Umar Ijaz Gilani appeared in the case on behalf of petitioner Maira Sajid.

IHC PEMRA

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved its ruling on petitions challenging the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) notification, which banned court reporting on electronic media.

IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq heard the petitions of the Islamabad High Court Journalists Association and the Press Association of Supreme Court. He reserved the ruling at the conclusion of arguments from both sides and announced that the decision would be announced next week.

During the hearing, the chief justice observed that the time had changed and “the things have changed, therefore, we have to adapt ourselves”. He pointed out that there was no wrong reporting about the case hearing on Tuesday and “what I said yesterday was exactly reported”.