Survivors of the bomb blast in Abbas Town rummage through their belongings four days after the incident. The government has announced that it will reconstruct the buildings but the work has yet to start. PHOTO: RASHID AJMERI/EXPRESS
KARACHI: A larger bench of the Supreme Court will resume hearing of the Abbas Town bomb blast suo motu case today (Friday) at its Karachi registry.
Headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the bench comprises Justices Jawwad S Khawaja, Khilji Arif Hussain, Amir Hani Muslim and Ejaz Afzal Khan.
The larger bench is expected to pass some orders in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi, which was ordered to be controlled by taking various measures according to the apex court’s detailed judgment passed in the Karachi violence suo motu case in October 2011.
The bench is scheduled to go through reports to be filed by the federal government’s three spy agencies - the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau - about reports regarding the Abbas Town blast.
On Wednesday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had ‘surrendered’ the Sindh inspector general of police, Fayyaz Leghari, and deputy inspector general East, Aleem Jafri, over the Abbas Town bomb blast.
The judges had also ordered the Sindh government to suspend three officers, SSP Malir Rao Anwar Ahmed, DSP Sohrab Goth Qamar Ahmed and Sachal police SHO Azhar Iqbal, for their “criminal negligence and poor response” after the blast.
The bench had also directed the interior secretary as well as the intelligence agencies to submit their reports about whether or not they had leads about the possibility of a bomb blast. They are set to reply whether they had shared the same, if any, with the police and Rangers to enable them to take pre-emptive measures.
Pakistan Rangers Sindh Director-General Major General Rizwan Akhtar is also scheduled to submit his report on action, if any, taken against his subordinates for failing to prevent the Abbas Town blast and other incidents of terrorism taking place in the city despite enjoying special police powers.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2013.
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