KARACHI, Oct 23: Rejecting the Sindh government progress report on implementation of the Supreme Court order in the suo motu case of Karachi killings, a larger bench of the apex court observed that the security situation would have been much better and the court would not have had to rehear the case if the court order had been implemented in letter and spirit.

The five-member larger bench, headed by Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali, also expressed displeasure over the delayed submission of the report.

“The report should have been filed at least a day before the hearing,” the bench remarked.

Justice Jamali observed that there would have been no need to rehear the case if the observations and orders of the apex court had been implemented fully.

The SC had given its detailed order last year after the Chief Justice of Pakistan took suo motu action on the security situation in the city.

At the outset of the hearing, Advocate General Fatah Malik presented the provincial government’s report and the bench required him to inform the court as to how many people were killed in robberies and other violent incidents.

The bench came heavily on the inspector general of police, Fayyaz Leghari, and said that he and other high-level police officers roamed around the city with police escorts, while the common people were left insecure.

“Your children are safe but what about others’ children?” a bench member remarked, while the other advised him to patrol the city four times a day and roam around alone.

The bench member told the IGP that he should leave his post if he was afraid of roaming around the city without police squads.

“Police personnel are meant for serving the citizens, not the high-ranking police officials,” he added.

The bench also expressed displeasure for the absence of the chief secretary, revenue secretary and the director general of the Sindh Rangers.

It directed the officers to appear in court on Wednesday when the bench would take up the matter again.

The advocate general said that Karachi was a big city where people from across the country arrived. He said that it was difficult to control criminals who also sneaked in.

When a bench member asked who was responsible for controlling the criminals, the AG conceded that it was the responsibility of the law-enforcement agencies and the government to provide security to the life and property of people.

However, he blamed the meagre resources for the government’s failure in the implementation of the court order.

A bench member remarked that the criminals from all over the country had entered the city like floods.

The AG submitted that that more than 1,800 people had been killed in the city between Jan 1 and Oct 20, but could not inform the court of measures taken to curb these killings.

The court asked Additional Home Secretary Waseem Ahmed about legislation on illegal weapons when he said that the accused persons were getting bail from courts. He had informed the court that more than 8,000 people found possessing illegal arms were arrested during the past year.

The bench asked him not to blame the courts for letting the accused persons free on bail and observed that the offence was bailable.

“Legislate if you want the offence to be non-bailable,” it added.

The judges observed that government enacted laws whenever they wanted, but it did not legislate for punishing criminals.

The police chief stated that recommendations were made to the provincial government to enhance the seven-year term to 10-year term for carrying illegal weapons.

The court asked Additional IGP Iqbal Mehmood, the city police chief, what action was taken against the officials who failed to perform efficiently. The city police chief informed the court that 425 such police officials were issued show-cause notices, 412 others were transferred and 104 were given punishments.

The court also directed the Sindh prosecutor general to submit a report on the cases of targeted killings in court.

A Rangers officer placed on record a report saying that there were no “no-go” areas in the city.