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India-Pakistan

Missing prisoners found in spy agencies' custody

2010-12-10

[Pak Daily Times] Two of the country's top spy agencies have confessed before the apex court that 11 missing prisoners of Adiala Jail were in their custody and were being tried under the Army Act. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday heard the case of 11 missing prisoners of Adiala Jail. During the course of proceedings, Raja Muhammad Irshad, counsel for the federation, the Pakistain Army, Inter-Services Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence, told a three-member bench consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday that the missing prisoners had been in their custody and were jugged during a massive operation launched after the court's direction where more than 20 bully boyz were jugged in the operational areas. He said they were in safe and secure hands and would be charged under the Army Act, adding that their trial would be held in the General Field Court Martial in accordance with law. Recording his statement on behalf of the respondents, Irshad dispelled the impression that the Pakistain Army and its other institutions were above law and the court. He said such negative impression had been given by certain elements who had been playing in the hands of the people who were out to secure their vested interests. He said, "I want to record a statement to dispel the impression that the Pakistain Army or any of its organs, is above law and defy the court's orders. They submit themselves before the constitution and hold the apex court in the highest regard." "They appreciate what the court is doing for the constitutional governance of the country," he added. He said these institutions had been bound to follow the order and judgement of this court. Giving details of the incident, he said these prisoners, soon after their release from the jail, voluntarily submitted themselves in the custody of people who had disguised themselves as secret agencies' personnel. From there, they were taken to operational areas, as they had close links with a well-knit terrorist organisation and were prepared to cause further damage by launching attacks on the army and sensitive installations, he added. Masterminds: Irshad said that these people were criminal masterminds of terrorist attacks on Hamza Camp, the GHQ, Kamra, Friday prayers attack and even involved in an attack on a three-star general in Rawalpindi. To the counsel's objection, the CJP told him that he could contact the authorities concerned as the counsel had assured the court that they would be treated according to law.

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India-Pakistan

SC assigns Anti-Corruption DG to investigate incident

2010-08-21

A two-member Supreme Court bench on Friday assigned a former judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC), presently posted as the director general of the Anti-Corruption Punjab, Kazim Malik, to hold a detailed inquiry into the brutal killing of two teenage brothers in the presence of police in Sialkot and submit a report within seven days. The bench consisting Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to the alleged murder of two brothers -- 15-year-old Hafiz Mughees and 19-year-old Hafiz Muneeb -- by a mob in the presence of local police in Sialkot. The court directed the authorities to arrest the accused persons involved in the case as early as possible and submit a report along with the progress of both cases on a daily basis to the SC registrar for the court's perusal in chambers. During the hearing, the court said, "The footage shown by TV channels in the courtroom on multimedia screen indicates that a few people had ganged up on the boys and were beating them mercilessly in the presence of police officers." "The brutality extended to the extent that after their death, their dead bodies were dragged and hanged on the pillars of an overhead water tank situated next to the office of Rescue 1122," the court noted. The DPO concerned told the court that after receipt of notice from the SC through the PPO, Rana Muhammad Ilyas, the SHO Sadar Sialkot was arrested, whereas 12 other police officers named in the FIR had still not been arrested. The court noted that prima facie the footage shown by TV channels indicates height of brutality in a civilised society wherein two young persons had been mercilessly beaten to death in the presence of the police and so many other people were standing there and watching, and nobody, including the police officials whose duty was to protect lives, had the moral courage to intervene to save the two youngsters. "Prima facie, we are not satisfied with the conduct of the DPO and SP (Investigation). It indicates their total failure to maintain law and order otherwise no one would have dared to take the law into their own hands. In such a situation it was the duty of the police officers/official concerned to intervene and should have made efforts to save their lives. The presence of police officers prima facie suggests their involvement in the incident as well, otherwise being in the police force it was their duty to maintain law and order instead of becoming silent spectators to such a horrific incident," the court noted.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistanis will resist martial law: Ahsan

2007-06-06

The people of Pakistan will resist any move to impose martial law in the country again, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, lead counsel of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said during the hearing of a constitutional petition by the CJP against the presidential reference against him. Ahsan made the remark when lawyer Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada requested the full court to restore CJP Chaudhry for an interim period to quell the present unrest in the country that may lead to the imposition of martial law again by General Pervez Musharraf. Pirzada made the request when Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday said the bench was fed up with the repetitive arguments being submitted for the last 15 days. Pirzada said that hearings in such constitutional cases often consumed much time that’s why the bench should restore the CJP for an interim period. “There is no fear of another martial law because those who have seen the rousing welcome accorded to the CJP in Lahore and Abbottabad know that people are on the roads and will resist imposition of a new military rule,” Ahsan told Pirzada.

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India-Pakistan

SC dismisses former ISI chief's petition

2007-03-06

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a constitutional petition filed by former Inter Services Intelligence chief Gen (r) Hameed Gul asking the court to order an inquiry into an attack by US-led forces in Afghanistan in the Shawal area in North Waziristan Agency. The petition, filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, also asked the court to order the government to give compensation to the family of the Pakistani soldier killed in the incident, and to halt military operations “against the people of the tribal areas”. However, a five-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, unanimously dismissed the petition on the grounds that the tribal areas do not come under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The bench also objected that Gen Gul had no locus standi to file the petition, as he is not a resident of the tribal areas. Advocate Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, Gen Gul’s lawyer, told reporters after the hearing that former MNA from FATA Haroon Rashid would now move a similar petition on behalf of the people of the tribal areas. The counsel in his preliminary arguments submitted that the people of FATA were citizens of Pakistan and it was the government’s responsibility to protect their lives and property. Ah, there was the trap the court avoided. If the people of FATA are citizens of Pakistan, it means the government is responsible for a lot of stuff that happens there. Besides Gen Gul, MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed and MNAs from the tribal areas also attended the hearing.

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India-Pakistan

Pak Supreme Court extends kite flying ban

2005-12-10

Why? There is a traditional festival in the Indian subcontinent called Basant. One popular activity is kite flying. This is viewed by Paki authorities as a sign of degenerate hindu culture and therefore something to be stamped out if pure islam is to florish The Supreme Court on Friday extended ban on kite flying as well as its buying, selling and manufacturing along with all types of twine till January 26, 2006. The bench, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Ch, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmad and Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari, directed chief secretaries and IGPs of all the four provinces to ensure strict compliance of court orders during this period. The court also appreciated the efforts of government in implementation of court orders regarding ban. The chief justice announced the order while women kept on raising hue and cry in the courtroom. Malik Qayyum, counsel of Kite Flying Association, requested the court to lift the ban for a short period and if incidents occurred during this period then court can impose ban again. However, the court observed that they would look into this request on the next date of hearing. During the hearing, a large number of women were present in the court.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Nuggets from the Urdu press

2005-01-14

Punishment remitted too often According to Jang, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, from a 'larger bench' of the Supreme Court in Lahore, said that the government was too generous in remitting punishments handed down by the courts. Many criminals were let off on flimsy excuses, who then went back to life of crime. He said in one case a prisoner was let off by the government on his learning the Quran by heart, but when he was asked to recite a verse (ayatul kursi) he could not remember it. The bench said that a prisoner given 25 years goes on appeal but before his appeal lands at the Supreme Court he is let off on remission. What should the court do? In other countries, life imprisonment meant life but in Pakistan prisoners were let off through special remissions of all sorts, on national days, and as inam and such pretexts as hifz Quran. In all, over 60 cases were before the court. The court then asked the provinces to provide lists of convicts thus let off. According to Nawa-e-Waqt, Justice Ramday said that life sentence was equal to death and the prisoner should leave jail only after his death. A society of 'khabay' Columnist Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that he was not very hopeful that the American policy in Pakistan would be able to change the culture of the country back to what it used to be, but he wished sincerely that it would. He said Pakistan used to be a warm-blooded society which encouraged arts and tolerated differences of style of life; but now it was controlled by cruel ideologues who taught men to kill each other for sect. Pakistan was once full of entertainment and, like anywhere in Europe, one could see Pakistanis enjoying themselves at restaurants, dance clubs, navy and air force messes; but now all that was gone and it had become difficult to breathe in an atmosphere of civic liberties. Society was dominated by clerics who did much more useful scholarly work when culture was alive; now they simply joined the oppressive forces. All culture was focused on khabay khana (eating big) and then letting off dakaar (burp) and going home sleepy with over-eating. Would America be able to change all this? Film on Shia-Sunni unity threatened According to Khabrain, film producer Syed Nur was being threatened by unknown persons for his film Ham aik hain (we are one). The theme of his film was unity of Shia and Sunni communities in Pakistan. The film actually showed that it was not Shia and Sunni communities fighting with each other. It showed that a third power outside Pakistan was doing all the killings. But because of a scene of matam (self-flagellation) he was receiving death threats from the very communities he was exonerating from sectarianism. Bridegroom teases girls According to Jang a marriage hall in Sabzi Mandi in Lahore saw a strange drama of eve-teasing. Two barats (wedding parties) had arrives from Tatlay Aali and Gakhar Mandi; but once in the hall the barati people started teasing the women and touching them. On this, the two barats clashed. Chairs were flung at each other (kursian chal gayeen) and there was exchange of mukka ghoonsa (fisticuffs) after which the police arrived and took doolha (bridegroom) Tariq in custody. He was made to rest in thana with his paraphernalia till the two parties had reached an understanding. Musharraf's photo on banknotes Sarerahe wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that an organisation called People's Movement took out a procession in Islamabad asking President Musharraf to print his portrait on the banknotes in Pakistan. They were carrying banners saying Musharraf ka jo ghaddar hai goli ka haqdar hai (He who betrays Musharraf deserves to be shot). The movement also threatened that if the president took off his uniform its ten members will burn themselves in front of his house. Is this blasphemy? Writing in Jang, Javed Chaudhry said that the tomb of Barri Imam near Islamabad was being designed and the design was identical with the one seen at the mausoleum of Prophet Muhammad PBUH in Madina. He stated that the planned tomb at Barri Imam was so identical that it could amount to blasphemy.

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