mehru
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2010
- Messages
- 1,645
- Reaction score
- 0
Law and order situation: SC asks Balochistan govt to seek agencies’ help
By Nasir Iqbal | From the Newspaper
March 9, 2011 (4 weeks ago)
ISLAMABAD, March 8: The Supreme Court hearing a petition on the law and order situation in Balochistan asked the provincial government on Tuesday to take premier intelligence agencies on board and said their cooperation could bring about a significant improvement in the situation.
“The chief secretary of Balochistan is directed to take into confidence the functionaries/authorities working with the Military Intelligence (MI), Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Directorate of Intelligence Bureau (IB) with a view to overcoming law and order because they are also answerable to the provincial government as well as courts under the Constitution,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said in an order.
A two-judge bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has taken up the petition filed by Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Hadi Shakeel seeking protection of people’s life and property. The petition has cited incidents of brutal murder of lawyers.
Tuesday’s hearing was conducted by two judges because the third member of the bench, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, is reported to have developed a cardiac problem.
Balochistan’s Chief Secretary Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri, who submitted a comprehensive report on the situation, informed the court that the provincial government was taking steps to hold much-awaited local government elections as early as possible, saying elected representatives at the grassroot levels always helped in improving the situation.
The unfortunate aspect of the matter, the chief justice observed, was that criminals responsible for offences like target killings, kidnapping for ransom, abductions and suicide attacks had by and large never been arrested. “Same is the situation in tracing people who have gone missing.”
The chief justice said the situation in Balochistan had reached an alarming proportion with professors, doctors and teachers leaving the province, where children could not go to schools and even the national anthem was not being sung by them.
Balochistan’s Advocate General Salahuddin Mengal informed the court that the provincial government had approached former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and a grand tribal jirga and an all-parties conference would be held this month to identify genuine grievances of people and suggest remedies.
The chief justice repeatedly asked the provincial government to strictly adhere to the Constitution which, he said, provided answers and solutions to all the malaise facing the province. But, he deplored, the federal government perhaps did not have any idea about the gravity of the situation in Balochistan.
“Prima facie, the facts and figures presented in the report depict that the situation of law and order in the province is bad,” the court order said and added that was the reason protection was not being provided to the life and property of citizens under Article 9 (security of person) of the Constitution.
“As pointed out repeatedly it is one of the fundamental rights of all subjects of the state that they should be protected against all sorts of hazards,” it said. Referring to the Balochistan government’s report which was also made part of the order, the court said that although long-term measures had been suggested, no short-term steps had been taken to ensure immediate improvement of the law and order situation.
The chief secretary said that kidnapped judges — District and Sessions Judge Sibi Jan Mohammad Gohar and Senior Civil Judge Mohammad Ali Kakar — had been recovered.
The court said that efforts should be accelerated to recover kidnapped advocates — Saleem Tahir, Agha Zahid and Syed Zahid Jussain.
The chief secretary conceded in his report that 56 of the 123 disappeared people in Balochistan were still missing. Bodies of 123 people dumped in different places in very precarious conditions have been found. Fifty-nine people were kidnapped in 2010, another 41 in 2009 and 47 in 2008.
According to the report, 74 people have been recovered as a result of raids by law-enforcement agencies while 48 got their freedom after paying ransom. Twenty-two people have been offloaded by their abductors because of constant pressure of raids.
Three suicide attacks have been reported, including one on a convoy of the Balochistan chief minister. Thirty-six people were killed in attacks on 72 Nato containers. Over 170 tankers were damaged.
The report suggested that commitments made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani while announcing the Balochistan package should be implemented in letter and spirit to improve the situation in the province.
It called for establishing an industrial base for providing jobs to the people who could not be accommodated in limited sectors like livestock breeding, small-scale agriculture and government services.
The ongoing projects — Kachi Canal, Gwadar Port, Gwadar Rato Dero Motorway, Storage and Delay Action Dams — announced by the federal government should be expedited to generate economic activities.
The report said that entire Balochistan was being fed by a single power supply line form the main grid. Transmission lines from Dadu to Khuzdar and Dera Ghazi Khan to Loralai need to be completed so that a loop system is effectively maintained and in case of breakdown in one line, the power supply is not disrupted.
It called for restoring the subsidised flat rate system of electricity for agricultural tubewells. Otherwise, it added, 16,600 tubewells would not remain functional.
All federal and provincial agencies should restrict their actions within the framework of law and rule. A person arrested on any charge should be presented before a magistrate within 24 hours. Anti-smuggling duties of the Constabulary and the Pakistan Coast Guard should be confined to unfrequented routes along the boarder and the coast, while the main highways should remain open.
Checking of illegal activities on the main highways should be done by authorised agencies and the civil armed forces should assist them, the report said.
Law and order situation: SC asks Balochistan govt to seek agencies
By Nasir Iqbal | From the Newspaper
March 9, 2011 (4 weeks ago)
ISLAMABAD, March 8: The Supreme Court hearing a petition on the law and order situation in Balochistan asked the provincial government on Tuesday to take premier intelligence agencies on board and said their cooperation could bring about a significant improvement in the situation.
“The chief secretary of Balochistan is directed to take into confidence the functionaries/authorities working with the Military Intelligence (MI), Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Directorate of Intelligence Bureau (IB) with a view to overcoming law and order because they are also answerable to the provincial government as well as courts under the Constitution,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said in an order.
A two-judge bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Ghulam Rabbani has taken up the petition filed by Balochistan High Court Bar Association President Hadi Shakeel seeking protection of people’s life and property. The petition has cited incidents of brutal murder of lawyers.
Tuesday’s hearing was conducted by two judges because the third member of the bench, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, is reported to have developed a cardiac problem.
Balochistan’s Chief Secretary Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri, who submitted a comprehensive report on the situation, informed the court that the provincial government was taking steps to hold much-awaited local government elections as early as possible, saying elected representatives at the grassroot levels always helped in improving the situation.
The unfortunate aspect of the matter, the chief justice observed, was that criminals responsible for offences like target killings, kidnapping for ransom, abductions and suicide attacks had by and large never been arrested. “Same is the situation in tracing people who have gone missing.”
The chief justice said the situation in Balochistan had reached an alarming proportion with professors, doctors and teachers leaving the province, where children could not go to schools and even the national anthem was not being sung by them.
Balochistan’s Advocate General Salahuddin Mengal informed the court that the provincial government had approached former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and a grand tribal jirga and an all-parties conference would be held this month to identify genuine grievances of people and suggest remedies.
The chief justice repeatedly asked the provincial government to strictly adhere to the Constitution which, he said, provided answers and solutions to all the malaise facing the province. But, he deplored, the federal government perhaps did not have any idea about the gravity of the situation in Balochistan.
“Prima facie, the facts and figures presented in the report depict that the situation of law and order in the province is bad,” the court order said and added that was the reason protection was not being provided to the life and property of citizens under Article 9 (security of person) of the Constitution.
“As pointed out repeatedly it is one of the fundamental rights of all subjects of the state that they should be protected against all sorts of hazards,” it said. Referring to the Balochistan government’s report which was also made part of the order, the court said that although long-term measures had been suggested, no short-term steps had been taken to ensure immediate improvement of the law and order situation.
The chief secretary said that kidnapped judges — District and Sessions Judge Sibi Jan Mohammad Gohar and Senior Civil Judge Mohammad Ali Kakar — had been recovered.
The court said that efforts should be accelerated to recover kidnapped advocates — Saleem Tahir, Agha Zahid and Syed Zahid Jussain.
The chief secretary conceded in his report that 56 of the 123 disappeared people in Balochistan were still missing. Bodies of 123 people dumped in different places in very precarious conditions have been found. Fifty-nine people were kidnapped in 2010, another 41 in 2009 and 47 in 2008.
According to the report, 74 people have been recovered as a result of raids by law-enforcement agencies while 48 got their freedom after paying ransom. Twenty-two people have been offloaded by their abductors because of constant pressure of raids.
Three suicide attacks have been reported, including one on a convoy of the Balochistan chief minister. Thirty-six people were killed in attacks on 72 Nato containers. Over 170 tankers were damaged.
The report suggested that commitments made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani while announcing the Balochistan package should be implemented in letter and spirit to improve the situation in the province.
It called for establishing an industrial base for providing jobs to the people who could not be accommodated in limited sectors like livestock breeding, small-scale agriculture and government services.
The ongoing projects — Kachi Canal, Gwadar Port, Gwadar Rato Dero Motorway, Storage and Delay Action Dams — announced by the federal government should be expedited to generate economic activities.
The report said that entire Balochistan was being fed by a single power supply line form the main grid. Transmission lines from Dadu to Khuzdar and Dera Ghazi Khan to Loralai need to be completed so that a loop system is effectively maintained and in case of breakdown in one line, the power supply is not disrupted.
It called for restoring the subsidised flat rate system of electricity for agricultural tubewells. Otherwise, it added, 16,600 tubewells would not remain functional.
All federal and provincial agencies should restrict their actions within the framework of law and rule. A person arrested on any charge should be presented before a magistrate within 24 hours. Anti-smuggling duties of the Constabulary and the Pakistan Coast Guard should be confined to unfrequented routes along the boarder and the coast, while the main highways should remain open.
Checking of illegal activities on the main highways should be done by authorised agencies and the civil armed forces should assist them, the report said.
Law and order situation: SC asks Balochistan govt to seek agencies
