Exclusively for illegal arms: ‘Special courts needed to prosecute 2,100 suspects’

Home dept submits request to SHC CJ for one court in each district of Karachi.

KARACHI:

With 20 special courts already functioning in the city and five in the pipeline, the home department has demanded the establishment of another five special courts for expeditious trial of the 2,100 suspects arrested under the Arms Act, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The suspects were arrested for possessing illicit arms during the ongoing targeted operations in Karachi.  Sources told The Express Tribune that the additional secretary (Judicial) for the home department, Rasool Bux Samajo, has addressed a letter to the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar in this regard.

"Around 2,120 accused have so far been held under the Arms Act 2013 on account of possessing illegal weapons during the targeted operation being carried out under the supervision of the Pakistan Rangers," the secretary informed Justice Baqar.



Samajo said that the provincial government was facing difficulty in prosecuting so many suspects as the functioning courts were already preoccupied with a large number of cases. "In order to facilitate the trial in an expeditious manner, it is requested that five special courts, one in each district of Karachi, only for the trial of the accused arrested under the Arms Act 2013 may kindly be established," he requested.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the home department approached the high court following a similar request made by the Karachi Additional IG Shahid Hayat.

The Additional IG, who is also the city police chief, had written a letter to the home department on November 18, saying that 1,386 cases have been registered under the Arms Act 2013 during the ongoing operation and the charge-sheets have been submitted to the relevant courts.

"None of these cases, except for three, have been disposed of so far," the police chief informed the home department. He had requested that two separate courts for the hearing of the cases under the Arms Act 2013 may be established in the city to ensure conviction of the accused. A senior government law officer told The Express Tribune that the provincial government has already made the arrangements for the courtrooms while the infrastructure facilities were also being provided.

Arms verification

A progress report was submitted at the Supreme Court ahead of its Karachi law and order hearing which starts today [Wednesday]. The report said that the deputy commissioners in Karachi have been assigned the task to verify and inspect the five-year record of arms dealers to ensure they are not selling arms and ammunitions to criminals or others. "The licences of 46 arms dealers have been cancelled so far," the chief secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana said in the progress report. The process of revalidating the one million existing arms licences began with about 100,000 application forms received so far.

The verification of all these licences is expected to be completed by the end of this year, he added.

Mobile SIMs

The interior ministry has formed a joint working group (JWG) to streamline the mechanism of issuing mobile phone SIM cards to ensure delivery to the right person through the biometric verification system. Karachi will be given priority.

Police's progress

Since September, the police have arrested 8,246 accused, including 76 target killers, 15 terrorists, 92 extortionists, 49 kidnappers, 160 murderers, 2,001 suspects under the Arms Act and 1,214 suspects in narcotics cases. Out of these, 332 are in police custody, 43 have been convicted and 19 acquitted by the courts. Around 887 are currently on bail.

Charge-sheets have been submitted for 171 suspects, including 41 target killers, 13 terrorists, 42 kidnappers, 40 extortionists - out of these, 90 cases are being tried by the Anti-Terrorism Court. Charge-sheets in 4,142 other cases registered against 8,493 accused have also been submitted before the other courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2013.