Refusal to entertain plea against IGP ‘abduction’ to be challenged

KARACHI: Representa­tives of civil society and human rights activists, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking formation of a judicial commission to inquire into the Oct 19 alleged kidnapping of inspector general of Sindh police, have expressed their disappointment that the apex court’s registrar’s office returned their petition on various grounds on Oct 29.

In a joint statement issued on Friday, the petitioners pointed out that the “essence of the objections raised by the registrar office was that a petition seeking an inquiry into the kidnapping/detention of the IGP, Sindh is neither a matter of public interest nor does it involve the violation of fundamental rights”.

“We are surprised and shocked that such an opinion has been taken by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, whereas, if there is any contemporary matter in Pakistan, which is a matter of public importance and involves fundamental rights, it is the kidnapping/detention of the IGP,” the statement said.

“We, as members of civil society, intend to challenge these harmful trends and would be challenging through an administrative appeal the orders of the registrar office,” it added.

On Oct 27, I.A. Rehman of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, Anis Haroon of the Women Action Forum, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation, Karamat Ali of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Mahnaz Rahman of Aurat Foundation, Fahim Zaman Khan, Nazim F. Haji, Salima Hashmi and others submitted a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution through senior advocate Faisal Siddiqi before the apex court.

They said that the Sindh government as well as the chief of army staff took notice of the alleged incident and ordered immediate inquiry. “However, even after a passage of 17 days no inquiry has been brought forward nor those responsible have been identified thereby raising serious doubts about the sincerity of the federal and Sindh governments and institutions working under them in addressing this grave situation.”