KARACHI: Govt told to file remarks in detention case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 2: The Sindh High Court again directed the secretaries of interior and defence ministries on Friday to file their comments on the alleged arrest and detention of a TV channel managing director by a law-enforcement agency on April 4.
Munir Ahmed Mengal, head of the Dubai-based Baloch Voice TV channel, was picked up by a law enforcement agency officials as soon as he reached Karachi airport from Dubai on April 4, his wife, Abeera Munir, said in her petition.
She said her spouse arrived at the Karachi airport on April 4 and informed her on telephone that he had been detained by the Federal Investigation Agency. When she contacted the FIA authorities concerned, she was told that her spouse had been cleared by the FIA but might have been taken into custody by personnel of some other agency.
As the petition came up before an SHC division bench, comprising Justices Zawwar Hussain Jaffery and Ali Sain Dino Metlo, the federal government’s standing counsel Tariq Ali submitted that he had not received a reply from the secretaries of interior and defence and sought more time. Adjourning the matter to June 7, the bench directed the ministries to file comments after verification from the various agencies working under their control.
The Sindh government had already denied arrest or detention of Mr Mengal by any agency or establishment functioning under it. The FIA said in its comments Mr Mengal was cleared by its immigration counter at the Karachi airport at 5-21pm on April 4 and it had no information regarding his whereabouts and whether he was arrested by some other agency at or outside the airport.
Asif’s appeal: The Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of former federal minister Asif Ali Zardari’s application against the trial court’s refusal to exempt him from personal appearance in the Murtaza Bhutto murder case.
The district and sessions court, Karachi-West, dismissed the ex-minister’s exemption plea on Dec 19, 2005. Mr Zardari, husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, approached the high court. His application came up before Justice Azizullah M. Memon. His counsel Azizullah K. Shaikh requested adjournment and the court adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed by office.
Mr Zardari is named as one of the co-accused and is charged with killing of Murtaza Bhutto, along with seven of his associates near his residence in Clifton, Karachi, on Sept 20, 1996.
PLEA DISMISSED: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Friday an appeal filed by former deputy superintendent of police Jamil Akhtar Kiyani and his wife against their conviction by an accountability court and maintained the sentences awarded to them.
The accountability court convicted the ex-DSP and his wife, Riaz Bibi, in October 2003 and sentenced the former to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30 million and the latter to five years’ simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 million.
According to the NAB, the ex-DSP misused his authority as a holder of public office and amassed huge property in his own name and in the names of his wife and son, Faisal Jamil, who had no ostensible sources of income. The family accumulated movable and immovable assets unaccounted for by their legal and known sources of income.
Announcing the judgment, an SHC division bench, comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rahmat Hussain Jafferi, observed that the prosecution has proved its case against the appellants. Ms Shahida, who had earlier been enlarged on bail, was ordered to be rearrested to enable her serve the jail term.
