Court issues notice to PM over boat incident

A trial court in Sukkur has issued notices to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in connection with last month's boat capsizing incident near Greece in which at least five Pakistani immigrants were killed.

Sukkur's additional district and sessions judge-II on Monday issued the notices while hearing a petition seeking registration of a criminal case against PM Shehbaz and others for the tragic deaths. The court asked the respondents to appear in the court on January 15.

A local lawyer, advocate Muhammad Ali Shah, filed the petition requesting the court to order Rohri police station to register a FIR on his complaint.

In his prayer he held the federal government responsible for the deaths of Pakistanis. He contended that not only is the government responsible for the poor economic conditions which compel people to seek jobs in the foreign lands, it is also not regulating human smuggling.

He urged the court to order the police to lodge an FIR on his complaint under section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The application was filed in the court under Section 22-A and 22-B of CrPC.

The notices will be served to the PM and ministers through the National Assembly speaker. "You are required to appear in person before this court on the date of hearing viz January 15," read the notice.

On December 14, a wooden boat carrying migrants capsized off the island of Gavdos in southern Greece, killing at least five of them.