The government said it is a well settled law that in such matters the courts should follow the footsteps of the executive. PHOTO: AFP
The federal government has challenged in the apex court the suspension of detention orders by Islamabad High Court (IHC) for Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks case, who was sent on a 14- day judicial remand in a six-year old kidnapping case on Thursday.
The case was registered by Golra police on December 29, 2014, on the complaint of Muhammad Dawood, a resident in the capital’s outskirts.
The appeal was moved on behalf of the interior secretary, district magistrate Islamabad capital territory and SSP Islamabad against the December 29 orders. The petition was drafted by Additional Attorney General for Pakistan Waqar Rana. It said that the respondent misrepresented contents of the federal capital’s detention order before the IHC.
Expressing apprehension in the Supreme Court, the government contended that there is likelihood of the accused causing damage to the state’s key installations and at sensitive public places, provided that he is affiliated with a proscribed organisation. It also contended that the high court’s order was illegal and liable to be set aside, adding that the court had passed the order on a complete misreading of the law, without due consideration of the relevant facts and circumstances.
The petition also mentioned that Lakhvi is accused of an offence committed outside Pakistan, which has international obligations that exclusively fall within the executive domain ie “external affairs of Pakistan” as set under Article 10(4) of the Constitution.
The government said that it is a well settled law that in such matters the courts should follow the footsteps of the executive and should not appeal against the decision of the executive, adding that in such matters the courts exercise judicial restraint and the remedy under Article 199, being discretionary, is not to be obliged as a matter of course, therefore, the impugned order is liable to be set aside on this ground alone.
The authorities maintained that the IHC clearly acted without jurisdiction and had erred in the law by failing to take into account that Lakhvi had alternate remedy which he availed by making a representation to the interior ministry; therefore, a writ petition by him was premature at this stage.
“The respondent did not mention in the high court that he was denied the opportunity to make a representation as provided by the law,” the government said. The petition also highlighted that the representation was made by the respondent on December 23 but only four days later, the high court held that the matter cannot be prolonged for an indefinite period, adding that the said time span cannot be described as an ‘indefinite period’.
It was also stated that the order was passed in violation of mandatory provisions of Article 199 of the Constitution, therefore, is ex-facie arbitrary, fanciful and unreasoned and should be set aside.
The government requested the court to set aside the IHC’s December 29 orders.
Earlier, in the kidnapping case, the judge turned down a police request to extend the physical remand for five more days and sent the accused on judicial remand for two weeks. The judge has adjourned the matter till January 15.
Following today’s order, Lakhvi has once again been detained in Adiala Jail where he was confined since 2009 in Mumbai attacks case. The main trial is pending before the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) where he was already granted bail. The court is to take up the matter on January 7.
Lakhvi was previously arrested in connection with criminal proceedings initiated with regard to the terror attacks in Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2015.
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