Made in India, Israel, US: Karachi flush with arms, says SC

Clamp curfew if you must to purge city of weapons, says Chief Justice.

KARACHI:

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday observed that the unchecked smuggling of arms through ports left the impression that the crime was done with the connivance of security agencies.

The apex court ordered the customs, maritime security agency, the Rangers and police departments to file their replies as to what action they had initiated to curb arms, ammunitions smuggling through seaports.

The bench observed that weapons were pouring into Karachi from US, Israel and India through sea routes. “If all the stakeholders had determined to stop this smuggling, not a single bullet could have made it to the city,” the CJ said, adding that the present scenario pointed not to negligence but a complicity of the law enforcers.

The SC larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, passed this direction during the hearing of Karachi law and order case at the SC’s Karachi registry.

The bench took up the report, prepared by a one-man commission constituted by the SC on August 30, to investigate allegations levelled by the Rangers director general regarding smuggling of a shipload of arms and ammunitions by a former minister for ports and shipping.

According to the report, the intelligence agencies have denied smuggling of arms, ammunitions into the country. “However, the possibility of the same being smuggled through the seaports cannot be ruled out,” the report said according to sources.

“There are 39 sea routes used by the launches, but the customs department has set up its check posts at only seven routes,” the commission’s report said.

On the other hand, Customs Chief Collector (Enforcement) for South Region, Muhammad Yahya said arms and ammunitions were not smuggled through the Bin Qasim and Karachi ports. “They are smuggled in small quantity from Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa through road routes,” he said.

The bench gave the copies of the commission’s report to the attorney general, Sindh advocate general, DG Rangers and IG police to file their replies in this regard.



Illicit arms recovery

The chief justice observed that the government should not hesitate even to impose curfew in order to purge the city of illegal weapons.

AG Khalid Javed said the government had issued a notification on December 20, 2011 asking the citizens to surrender illicit arms.

The judges observed that the illicit arms can be forfeited in accordance with the law enacted in 1992. They said arms and ammunitions were being transported into the city from all the road routes due to poor monitoring and scanning systems.

The CJ said the authorities would have to take drastic steps if they were sincere enough to save the country and the city. “The illicit arms would have to be recovered either by launching an announced campaign or unannounced across the board initiative,” he stated.

Law & order

The chief justice inquired from provincial advocate general about the overall law and order situation in Karachi, and progress made during the last three weeks.

AG Khalid Javed Khan said different steps including reshuffles were made in the department of police, who with the help of Rangers were actively making efforts, conducting operation to improve the law and order situation.

“The situation is changing now. Perhaps we are taking steps. The federal and provincial governments have expressed the resolve to improve the situation in the city,” he said, adding the CCTV cameras were being made functional.

The apex court praised the steps taken by the government and noted that finally things had started changing and rolling. “Something in the police department has been removed,” the bench remarked recalling that various officers promoted out-of-turn had been brought down to their original ranks following its order.

Khalid Khan informed that in a recent meeting of the federal cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, it was decided to launch operation in collaboration of Rangers to curb crimes like extortion, targeted killings, etc.

“Also the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has directed the cellular companies to start unregistered SIMs verification, which was started last night,” he said.

Witness protection law

The AG informed the court that the Sindh Assembly had passed Witness Protection Act on Wednesday, while it was decided that one police station each in the five districts of the city would be jointly run by the Rangers and police to ensure effective prosecution of criminals arrested during operations.

The CJ observed authorities had failed to implement Section 21 of The Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 which provided for protecting the witnesses.

He asked the heads of police and Rangers why the witnesses in the Geo TV Reporter Wali Khan Babar’s murder were not protected despite the High Court’s clear order.

The judges were of the view that the people were not coming forward to testify against the criminals due to sense of insecurity. “We want to ensure to the witnesses to come forward to testify,” they remarked.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2013.