‘If the administration is not in order, how can the killers be arrested?'

Court grills law enforcers, seeks details of target killings since November 2011.

KARACHI: In place of witnessing any improvement, the law and order situation in Karachi was aggravating everyday for which no one else but the provincial executives were responsible, noted the Supreme Court on Wednesday at the SC Karachi registry.

In light of this observation, the judges have called a detailed report on how many people have lost their lives in acts of target killings since October 2011.

Headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the bench comprising Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan issued this direction while hearing the Karachi violence suo motu implementation case regarding Sunday’s bomb blast in Abbas Town.

Almost 50 people, including women and children, were killed and 139 wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle ripped through the congested residential locality of Abbas Town on March 3.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of the incident and lethargic attitude of the administration, including law enforcers, who failed to help the victims.

Tagging the Abbas Town incident with the Karachi law and order suo motu implementation case, the SC had called reports from the Sindh government and IG Police in this regard.

Taking up the matter on Wednesday, Justice Chaudhry came down hard on the Sindh government authorities, including police and Rangers, for their indifferent attitude of not reaching the place of the incident and helping the victims, who were still awaiting government support.

They rejected the report submitted by Sindh IG Fayyaz Leghari, observing that he himself had confessed his failure in controlling the crimes and bringing violence under control.

“The question arises that how would you arrest the killers unless the administration is not put in order,” the chief justice asked Muhammad Shah Khawar, a private lawyer hired by the IG police. “Not all incidents taking place in Karachi are of terrorism. The IG should have controlled them.”

The larger bench will next take up the Karachi suo motu implementation case on March 8 at the SC Karachi registry.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2013.