QUETTA:
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Balochistan High Court (BHC) order and cancelled a bail granted to a grandson of the slain Baloch chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti and his 27 security guards.
Shahzain Bugti – who is also the provincial chief of Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) – and his 27 armed guards were arrested on December 22, 2010 by paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) at the Buleli check post in Quetta for allegedly smuggling weapons.
Sources say a huge cache of weapons and ammunition, including 50 Kalashnikov assault rifles, anti-aircraft guns and 46,000 rounds, was recovered from the vehicles they were travelling in.
Later a BHC bench granted their applications for bail and ordered their release.
On Tuesday, an apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, took up the case and heard arguments from the prosecutor general and Shahzain’s attorney.
The bench set aside the BHC order paving way for the arrest of Shahzain and his guards. However, the bench did not make direct instructions for the arrest.
WN Kohli, the attorney for Shahzain, argued that his client was implicated in a fake case in order to bar him from leading a long march from Quetta to Dera Bugti for the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) belonging to the Bugti tribe.
In a counter argument, Prosecutor General Muhammad Wasey Tareen said that the security forces had intercepted Shahzain’s convoy after they were tipped off that the convoy was smuggling arms and ammunitions from Afghanistan to Quetta.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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@Mirza:
if you have evidence about anybody then take it to court, if they do not react then you can say about biased or not. SC does not take action on their own. I remember the TV footage when Shazeen Bugti was caught with ammunition, he was contacting the US embassy and you want to support people like that. Shame on you.
@Mirza:
Why are some people hateful toward only certain families, Bhuttos, Bugtis, Taseers to name a few?
Kudos to your analytical skills, you actually equated Taseer (an educated self-made millionaire, who stood up for a destitute Christian woman) to Bhuttos and Bugtis.
I am glad the court gave a decision based on laws. No one is above law.
While the SC judges keep making populist statements they have yet to give one order/decision in favor of Baloch people. On the contrary their decisions do not match their words. Why are some people hateful toward only certain families, Bhuttos, Bugtis, Taseers to name a few? How much more damage the courts and rightwing allies going to inflict on these same families?
ABOUT YOUR DEMANDS ALL YOUR DEMANDS ARE RIGHT EVERY PAKISTANI WANT issue of missing persons SHOULD BE SOLVED
BUT BUGTI SIR LEAVE PAKISTAN .why you carry arms?
What a respectable looking man!