On May 23, masked police personnel besieged the high court premises and beat up journalists as well as guards accompanying Zulfiqar Mirza. PHOTO: FILE
Sindh Police IG Ghulam Haider Jamali, AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo and other police officials are facing contempt charges for neglecting court orders in the incidents of besieging the high court and anti-terrorism courts (ATC) premises and subsequent beating up of journalists by masked personnel.
A division bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, fixed June 12 for the next hearing of the case and remarked that the court will decide the matter if the police officials’ response was not filed by then.
The two-judge bench was hearing the petition of former provincial home minister, Zulfiqar Mirza, seeking protection from police arrest and subsequent contempt charges against the senior police officials over the May 23 incident.
The siege
On May 23, a large contingent of police commandos was deployed inside and around the court in an apparent bid to arrest the disgruntled leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as his interim bail granted by an ATC was expiring.
However, Mirza, through his counsels, had approached the appellate court seeking protection from being arrested and despite the higher judiciary’s orders, the deployment was not removed and journalists and others were beaten up by masked personnel.
During Monday’s hearing, the IG’s attorney, Farooq H Naek, pleaded the court to accept his client’s apology submitted on a previous date, contending that the police officials were also human and could make mistakes.
On hearing this, Justice Shah, questioned how a trained, uniformed official could commit such a mistake that would directly go against the judiciary’s orders. IG Jamali, AIG Thebo and all others officials named in the petition were present in the court.
Concluding the hearing, the two judges observed that it was the last time that the defence was given time to file their comments.
Mirza’s scuffle with lawyers
Meanwhile, a scuffle between Mirza and a lawyer representing the state also occurred as they both came face to face and exchanged harsh words. Mirza allegedly held the assistant advocate general, Qazi Bashir, by the collar and hurled abuses at him.
Following the fight, a large number of lawyers associated with the People Lawyers Forum, a PPP-backed group in the legal fraternity, gathered and shouted slogans against the former minister.
Bashir also approached the aforementioned SHC bench, complaining against Mirza. The bench, however, asked him to submit a written application about the incident.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2015.
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