7-day ultimatum: SC orders dismantling of Karachi no-go areas

SHOs were asked to say in writing that their jurisdictions did not have any such areas.

KARACHI:

The Supreme Court (SC) has given seven days to Sindh’s top bureaucrat to cleanse the city of no-go areas - a precondition to free and fair general elections.

At the hearing of the suo motu hearing on Karachi law and order on Wednesday, the larger bench felt the law enforcers were wasting their time. The proceedings started around 10am soon after the judges walked in to courtroom one in the SC Karachi registry and took their designated seats at the bench - Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan followed by Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Amir Hani Muslim.

The no-go areas identified by the March 23 report of The Express Tribune that showed 13 complete and 29 partial no-go areas were on top of the agenda. The chief justice referred to the orders made at the previous hearing to find out how far their orders were complied. The SHOs of all 112 police stations in the city were asked to say in writing that their jurisdictions did not have any no-go areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2013.