Defying court orders: Sindh IG may face contempt charges

Bench rejects police chief’s ‘unconditional apology’.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected on Tuesday the 'unconditional apology' tendered by the Sindh inspector general of police, Ghulam Haider Jamali, for his failure to protect the high court when masked personnel in plain clothes beat up the guards of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and journalists covering the violent escapade.

A division bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, fixed May 28 for framing contempt charges against the IG, Karachi AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo, the South Zone DIG, Preedy SHO and others.

The two judges had resumed the hearing on show-cause notices issued on Monday to the senior police officials during the hearing of a petition seeking protection for the former home minister, Zulfiqar Mirza, from his arrest in criminal cases. At the outset of Tuesday's proceedings, IG Jamali filed his personal affidavit in response to the court's show-cause notice.

The police chief said the Preedy SHO, the superintendent of police's Special Security Unit (SSU) and its 12 personnel, who had beaten up the journalists and others outside the high court, had been suspended. The police have also suspended the Central Zone SSP Chaudhry Asad, who had the additional charge of the South Zone SSP, on the day of the incident.

Jamali said that the police force had rendered a lot of sacrifices to restore peace in the city. Policemen were killed while protecting former chief justice Maqbool Baqar, he added, in an apparent bungled attempt to seek pardon from the court.

The bench members replied they were not sitting in the court to count the sacrifices of the police force. They observed that the IG was directly responsible for the situation, as the incident would not have taken place had he reached the spot in compliance with the court's directives.

In his personal affidavit, the IG maintained that he had no intentions to disobey the orders issued by the high court. However, he offered an unconditional apology for the whole episode that took place outside the SHC.

The bench members rejected the personal affidavits submitted by the IG and AIG. They directed the IG, Karachi AIG and the South Zone DIG, along with the suspended SP and Preedy SHO to file their additional affidavits by May 28. The two judges hinted that contempt charges may be framed against the IG and all other relevant officials, if found responsible for the attack on the high court after examining their replies on the next date of hearing.

For his part, the home secretary said that no direction was issued to cordon off the high court neither was there any authorisation to the masked personnel to beat up media persons. With the approval of the Sindh chief minister, Traffic DIG Dr Ameer Ahmed Sheikh has been appointed as the inquiry officer to investigate the incident. The chief secretary also appeared before the bench and endorsed the reply filed by the home secretary.

Journalists join in

Meanwhile, Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed filed his power of attorney on behalf of the journalists who were beaten up by masked police personnel in plain clothes outside the court. He provided video footage of the incident supported by personal affidavits of three cameramen of television news channels, identified as Abdullah, Syed Tariq Shah and Sheikh Noman, who were beaten up and their cameras were damaged by the personnel.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2015.