F-8 courts attack: Supreme Court asks govt to take action against police officials for negligence
Directs govt to enhance compensation
ISLAMABAD:
The country’s top court has sought a report about the government’s actions against Islamabad police officials for showing negligence during the bomb and gun attack at district courts in Sector F-8 last year.
The court also directed the government to increase the compensation amount to heirs of lawyers killed in the attack.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, gave the directives while hearing a suo motu case of the March 3, 2013 incident.
During the hearing of the case, Deputy Attorney-General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti submitted a report regarding the government’s steps about the implementation of recommendations of an inquiry committee set up to probe the incident.
He submitted that the government has paid Rs10 million each to the sessions judge’s family, Rs3 million to each police official’s family, Rs0.5 million to each lawyer’s as well as other civilians’ families who were killed in the incident.
A one-man inquiry committee, headed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), had probed the incident and submitted 13 recommendations in the SC.
The committee had recommended that heirs of lawyers, who lost their lives in the attack, should be given Rs10 million and the injured Rs5 million each by the government. The families of the deceased other than the lawyers should also be given compensation of Rs5 million each and the injured Rs2.5 million, it further recommended.
IHC Bar Association President Mohsin Kayani submitted that the government did not take action against the police officials in view of the inquiry commission’s report.
Upon this, the bench sought report from the government about its actions on December 10. For the first time, the court has decided to share that report with representatives of the Islamabad Bar Association after over 20 months.
The report has recommended registration of criminal cases and departmental action against all the officers who were found negligent in the performance of their duties and were directly responsible for the loss of 12 lives.
In its 97-page report, the inquiry committee has observed that internal security policy of the country, which is linked to the external security policy, should be clearly determined by the government so that the security apparatus of the state can be moduled accordingly to cope with the contemporary challenges.
There is no mechanism to provide foolproof security to lawyers’ chambers, the report says, recommending shifting of district courts immediately to some safer place.
“Islamabad police should revisit its organisational and security policy/doctrine. Terrorist activities should be given importance while formulating any such policy. The training and capacity building of the police should be done to meet challenges of terrorism. All the police force, deployed for any purpose should be trained to counter terrorism”, the report suggests.
The report holds the state responsible for the deaths of 12 people, saying “the dead or injuries were not on account of an accident but for the fact that the state has failed to protect their lives.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.
The country’s top court has sought a report about the government’s actions against Islamabad police officials for showing negligence during the bomb and gun attack at district courts in Sector F-8 last year.
The court also directed the government to increase the compensation amount to heirs of lawyers killed in the attack.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, gave the directives while hearing a suo motu case of the March 3, 2013 incident.
During the hearing of the case, Deputy Attorney-General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti submitted a report regarding the government’s steps about the implementation of recommendations of an inquiry committee set up to probe the incident.
He submitted that the government has paid Rs10 million each to the sessions judge’s family, Rs3 million to each police official’s family, Rs0.5 million to each lawyer’s as well as other civilians’ families who were killed in the incident.
A one-man inquiry committee, headed by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), had probed the incident and submitted 13 recommendations in the SC.
The committee had recommended that heirs of lawyers, who lost their lives in the attack, should be given Rs10 million and the injured Rs5 million each by the government. The families of the deceased other than the lawyers should also be given compensation of Rs5 million each and the injured Rs2.5 million, it further recommended.
IHC Bar Association President Mohsin Kayani submitted that the government did not take action against the police officials in view of the inquiry commission’s report.
Upon this, the bench sought report from the government about its actions on December 10. For the first time, the court has decided to share that report with representatives of the Islamabad Bar Association after over 20 months.
The report has recommended registration of criminal cases and departmental action against all the officers who were found negligent in the performance of their duties and were directly responsible for the loss of 12 lives.
In its 97-page report, the inquiry committee has observed that internal security policy of the country, which is linked to the external security policy, should be clearly determined by the government so that the security apparatus of the state can be moduled accordingly to cope with the contemporary challenges.
There is no mechanism to provide foolproof security to lawyers’ chambers, the report says, recommending shifting of district courts immediately to some safer place.
“Islamabad police should revisit its organisational and security policy/doctrine. Terrorist activities should be given importance while formulating any such policy. The training and capacity building of the police should be done to meet challenges of terrorism. All the police force, deployed for any purpose should be trained to counter terrorism”, the report suggests.
The report holds the state responsible for the deaths of 12 people, saying “the dead or injuries were not on account of an accident but for the fact that the state has failed to protect their lives.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.