ISLAMABAD, June 11: Taking exception to a media conference addressed by Frontier Corps (FC) Inspector General Obaidullah Khattak on the Balochistan situation, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry wondered on Monday whether the court should summon Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

“It is not the job of the people in uniform to address press conferences. We have taken strong exception to the press conference of IG-FC. Is he overtaking the Supreme Court!” asked the chief justice while hearing a petition filed by Hadi Shakeel, former president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, about breakdown of law and order in the province.

He said time had come to pass a coercive order against him and send it to Gen Kayani and the interior secretary to look into the conduct of the general.

The court also asked Attorney General Irfan Qadir to look into the transcript of the press conference.

Advocate Raja Muhammad Irshad, representing the FC chief, was asked to provide the transcript to the court.

The court asked why it should not be feel aggrieved over the recovery of the bodies of missing persons when it was the guardian of the Constitution.

“Nobody has a right to kill even a criminal,” the chief justice said.

He said Balochistan should not be ignored as it was the most important part of the country.

The bodies of Muhammad Khan Marri, Muhammad Nabi and others were found dumped a few days after the apex court’s directives issued during proceedings in Quetta for the recovery of three missing persons.

Over the past few days 15 to 20 people had been killed, the court noted.

Sadiq Umrani, a member of parliament, had said that he was a witness to an incident in which two persons had been butchered.

“Why not put responsibility on the IG of the FC as every second accusation was against the FC,” the chief justice said, adding that the court could go to any extent, citing as example passing an order under Article 190 of the Constitution.

“Tomorrow, we can call Gen Kayani and ask him to look into it,” the court said and recalled that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had also visited Balochistan last week.

When Raja Irshad asked the court to order withdrawal of the FC from Balochistan, the chief justice observed that it was not the court’s job.

Meanwhile, Advocate Raza Kazim, counsel for cellular phone companies, contended that a negative impression was being created against them as they were accused of promoting terrorism.

They had spent Rs30 million to acquire equipment through which they could trace a caller within 30 seconds and the required information was being shared with intelligence agencies, he said.

His request to implead cellular companies in the case was accepted before adjournment of further hearing to June 19.