Suo motu hearing: 'Karachi situation will improve after SC verdict'
The chief justice made this remark during the hearing of the suo motu case on Karachi violence which is underway at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, the chief justice also vowed that the government will be on alert after the verdict.
Sindh High Court Bar Association President Anwar Mansoor said that there are linguistic, political and religious clashes in the city.
However, the chief justice asserted that there is no Shia-Sunni dispute in Karachi.
The CJ said that the situation in Karachi was depressing and worse than Waziristan.
He also expressed concern over the Inspector General (IG) Sindh Wajid Durrani’s comment that about 30% of the police were terrorist sympathisers.
Meanwhile, Justice Jalal Usmani said that there was a lack of political ethics by the government which is why the country had witnessed military interventions.
Justice Usmani further said that the government had “totally failed” and the law and order situation was purposely being kept this way.
The chief justice said that whenever the government neglects its duties such a situation will arise and that the government needs to reinforce its writ rather than “looking at bodies on the roads and in gunny bags”.
He asserted that the SC will not care about who gains or loses as an outcome of the verdict, but the verdict will be according to the four pillars of the state.
Justice Chaudhry said that 310 people had been killed in targeted killings in 2011 and it would be “sad” if someone claims that the current government is a successful one.
“The Court will try its best to support the government to develop the will to control law and order” he added.
The chief justice also expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report was not submitted directly by the government but through other means.
He also took a notice of the Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s statement that said that the target killers are being arrested and they belong to “all the political parties” which the CJ said was a matter of concern.
The CJ also asserted that everyone denounced the criminals and that they will not be protected. He said that the criminals will have to surrender after they will have “nowhere to go”.
He also said that foreign writers are writing articles on these lines for their personal gain.
The case is being heard by a special five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry remarked that after the apex court’s decision, the situation in Karachi has taken a turn for better.
Earlier today, Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq informed the court that the situation in the city had improved after the CJ had taken a suo motu notice of the Karachi violence.
The chief justice said yesterday that the civilian government should perform better than a dictatorship, as the SC resumed the Karachi violence suo motu hearing.
CJ tells Awan to bring 'practical thoughts' to court
Senator Babar Awan continued his argument which he raised during yesterday’s hearing.
Awan came up with an article which said that the head of the armed forces is also an executive on which the CJ shunned him and said whenever the executive is referred it is the government.
He also advised Awan to remain focused on the ongoing case and bring “practical thoughts” to the court.
Awan told the court that before giving out any judgment it should be clear that globally and regionally people are trying to make Pakistan a failed state.
The senator also said that Pakistan is a nuclear power and that “failure is not an option”.
COMMENTS (17)
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@sam: Unfortunately, yes, you are right, in all probability these 'thugs' will not desist so easily. But, we were feeling so helpless and like chumps watching helpless and poor and destitute people getting slaughtered on the streets of Karachi. And it was so revolting to see these so-called political leaders like AH, ZM, SS and others of their ilk championing the causes of Muhajirs and Sindhis and Pathans. We needed someone to point out that human beings, no matter what ethnicities they belonged to, and what languages they spoke, and what religion they believed in, were getting killed. CJ coming to Karachi and conducting these suo motu hearings gave us a respite and made us feel that we are human beings who can at least do something to stop this mayhem. Surprisingly there is no hate among our people, yet these so-called leaders speak in their name to stir up hate where none exists. I just feel that if we cannot do anything at least we should let the CJ know that we are grateful and happy that he is doing something for the people of Karachi and Pakistan. I do not know what the end result will be but the least we can do is to express our appreciation to him and pray for his health, long life, and for God to grant him wisdom and judiciousness to put some sense in these wayward politicians.
@Arzoo ... true but this something temporary these thugs will be back till they dont some how eliminate the root cause.
For sure we are already seeing a remarkable improvement in Karachi's situation. The signs of improvement started only after the inception of the hearings by the Supreme Court. We, as citizens of Pakistan, have to be thankful for the presence of the Supreme Court in Karachi and for taking meaningful steps to help the poor people of Karachi. SC's is the only voice that gives us hope for the future and respite from the mayhem. Do not know how, but there should be a meaningful way for people to express their appreciation and thanks to the Chief Justice. In the meantime, I can only pray for his good health and long life and hope that one day he may serve as the President of the Republic of Pakistan. That will be the first time after at least 6 decades that we will have a President that the nation will respect.
Nothing will happen decisions never change thing implementation does, Current Govt will not implement any decision until decision in in there favour.
@Shahryar Ahmed: I am not offending but do you remember how many promises the elected government has made before consuming the Power??? Aren't you waiting for those promises to fulfilled? What do you expect from Supreme Court and Chief Justice while your leaders and Law enforcement agencies are badly corrupted. Enforcing Law and restraining peace is not the responsibility of Court however it is responsible to study the case of criminals and make justice based on evidence.
Ok can you tell me how many cases of terrorism has been submitted before the court?
If everything is to be done by the Court then how much our Govt. is responsible of?
I see news channels and it is the moment of utter sadness when people REQUEST CJ for help rather than DEMANDING their leaders to act against the crime.
I live in Germany and as like all other states in the World, people here demand their rights from the Govt. rather than requesting and urging their Supreme Court for Justice.
Let me ask you one simple question, May ALLAH forbid if you or your family become a victim of some Crime, where will you go for help. Police? i am sure No, Leadership? huh! forget it, Religious leaders? their reply, US is behind everything.
This statment of CJ is brining doubt on government that if his verdict can bring peace in karachi than why didnt govt.'s measures brought peace to the city? i think we should wait for his verdict and most of that result after verdict.
CJP & fellow judges, people of Karachi are looking for an impartial and un-biased judgment. A judgment that would pave the way for peace and stability in this commercial hub of Pakistan. We are expecting a judgment that would address all the root causes of this violence in Karachi but any decision against the mandate of the people of Karachi would make things worse.
@Shahryar Ahmed: @Cautious: I agree with you both. Even though the court hearings offer hope but each day the judges should not make popular political statements. No judge in any free country does leadership from the bench. The court should hear the case and them make a decision which should be published. The bits and pieces of "leadership and politics" must be left to the politicians. We do not need more unelected politicians.
The SC took notice of the problem after it had died down.
Let's call a spade a spade. Iftikhar Chaudhry is a ray of hope and doing his utmost to bring an order to Pakistan. No one, in Pakistan, Dubai, or UK has done anything for Karachi, or for that matter for Pakistan, but for their own benefit. Let's give a credit to this man who is leading the court to give rights to people of Pakistan, which they never have before. He is the one who took notice of dead bodies propping up all over Karachi. Whether you give the man credit or not, at least not that many bodies are propping up any more.
In the court, lots of things came to light. It is mind boggling how political parties systematically do things to erase their dirty tracks. When 1,100 policemen, who are sympathizer of a political party, are inducted into police force then one can imagine to whom their sympathies belong. One need not be genius to figure out that though these policemen are paid by taxes from people of Karachi, they don’t work for them. They instead work for the party who got them employment to begin with and they do their utmost to safeguard that political party’s interest – clean its dirty laundry so it doesn’t come into open. We need peace in Karachi – free from Bhatha, land, and any other mafia. People’s lives and property must be protected at all cost.
Supreme Court will identify disconnects in Federal/Provincial government and will give recommendation to fix things in Karachi. But neither Federal nor Provincial government has a will to do that. Then one should not blame court for not doing enough. After all court can do only so much. It cannot bring those who are looting/burning Karachi to courts; neither can it bring to courts who are pulling strings of criminals from Islamabad, or on furlough in Dubai and UK. It is duty of the Executive branch of the government to execute verdict of the court and it must be held accountable for that.
There are a number of reasons responsible for decrease in violence in the last two weeks and SC suo motu is just one of them. The other factors are exposure of MQM's militant wing's role in violence by ZM and its political isolation, pressure on MQM after the arrests in connection with Imran Farooq's murder and the operation by Rangers and Police. MQM's Chief's recent press conference did more damage to his party than ZM's. A couple of more such speeches will do irreparable harm to MQM.
All the culprits irrespective of whichever community they belong. must punished for once and for all. Let peace and calm prevail the streets of this great metropolis of Mai Kolachi...
He is starting to sound like Malik --- apparently he likes to make press announcements and predict big things --- lets hope he can deliver on his statements.
Good. But we need to see more prosecutions...
Call a spade a spade and send these target killers to the gallows.
This clearly indicates that the Govt was never interested in taking on the criminals rather it was hands in glove for its political expediencies.Now that the court proceedings will lay bare their conivance so they have reluctantly given powers to the Rangers for operation. Had they been sincere and had started this operation earlier,hundreds of lives would have been saved. The Chief Justice must take in consideration the willful indifference of the Govt in fulfilling its obligations.
Like the same way when the Hon. CJP said in a speech that after the restoration of him back to his office, the Pak Rupee will appreciate against the USD, Inflation will decrease, Exports will increase, FDI will flow back to Pakistan & the Economy will be on its way UP!!!!
I am still waiting for atleast 10% of all that he promised before his restoration.