SHC adjourns May 12 case till October 22
KARACHI (September 25 2007): The full bench of Sindh High Court on Monday adjourned hearing of the May 12 incident and government’s failure to remove siege of High and City Courts buildings by mobs till October 22, 2007. Today, when matter was taken up Advocate General Sindh Anwar Mansoor sought adjournment saying he did not properly go through the case as he was on leave and recently resumed office.
He stated more than 2000 affidavits were also submitted in main case, which he wanted to peruse. He stated he required time to go through them and understand all affidavits. Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui,DAG and counsel for Sindh Home Advisor I A Hashmi and Raja Quraishi advocate for Sindh Chief & Home Secretaries also seconded AG’s request.
The full bench comprised Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Azizullah M Memon, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Maqool Baqar and Justice Ali Sain Dino Metlo.
Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani heading full bench regretted and observed “we are not assembled here to adjourn the case. The matter was already adjourned twice and repeating same would not be justified”.
Abrar Hassan, President Sindh High Court Bar Association opposed AG request and stated matter could not be adjourned on said ground. However, he did not force and agreed on adjournment.
Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani asked AG in which capacity citizens filed these affidavits, whether, they were issued notice or asked by court for same and if they filed then where were affidavits. He also questioned relevance of affidavits with the case and observed it was not possible for court to examine each and every eyewitness. The court was informed that these affidavits were filed by eyewitnesses of May 12 violence who also wanted to record their statement before court. SHC office raised objection on all affidavits, therefore, same were not placed on record.
Advocate Raja Quraishi submitted original recordings of CCTV cameras installed by police for surveillance on May 12, 2007 around SHC building. Amicus curiae Qazi Faiz Essa excused to further assist full bench in said case due to his character assassination by state counsels. He stated he was not been supplied advance copy of any affidavit or counter affidavits so he was unable to prepare submissions on them.
The full bench rejected his request and directed counsels for state officers to avoid from personal attacks. Meanwhile, to control law and order and entrance of irrelevant persons in the SHC premises stringent security arrangements were made during today’s hearing.
Roads from Karachi Press Club and Passport Office to the SHC building were blocked by putting containers whereas surveillance cameras were also installed to monitor movement around the court premises.
But despite these arrangements some 2000 people managed to gather outside the court without any hurdles created by the security personnel even though around eight vehicles of the police were present on the spot. No vehicle or personnel was seen from Pakistan Rangers however.
Source: Business Recorder
Date:9/25/2007
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