KARACHI, Feb 6: The Supreme Court observed on Wednesday that fair and free elections would remain an elusive dream if lawlessness continued to prevail in the city.

A four-member bench headed by Jawwad S. Khawaja was hearing the Karachi law-and-order suo motu implementation case with justices Khilji Arif Hussain, Sarmad Jalal Osmani and Amir Hani Muslim.

The bench came down heavily on the city police, observing that over 2,300 people had been killed in violence during the past year due to increasing lawlessness in the city, attributing the situation to the lack of action and initiatives by the police.

The court also questioned the performance and efficiency of the police force, observing that the law-and-order situation in the city could only deteriorate if over 22,000 absconders and proclaimed offenders were allowed to roam freely in the city. Sindh Advocate General Abdul Fateh Malik, Inspector General of Sindh Police Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari, Additional IG Iqbal Mehmood and other top police officials appeared before the SC bench to apprise it about any substantial efforts made by their department to maintain law and order since passing of the order on security situation of Karachi by the SC in Nov 2011.

Not only did the police officials concede that lawlessness in the city had rather increased, but Sindh Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan informed the court that there were actually 22,535 proclaimed offenders and absconders in the city. However, Sindh IG informed the court that the Karachi police had arrested more than 3,000 proclaimed offenders.

The bench then pointed out that the police had stated in their report that over 22,000 absconders and proclaimed offenders were roaming freely in the metropolis and the police were unable to arrest the criminals.

The court observed that police did not make any concrete efforts to track down criminals and they had stated in the report submitted to the court that the criminals could not be traced. They said that even though a long time had passed, no practical steps had been taken to implement the judgment on Karachi’s law-and-order situation.

The larger-bench observed that Article 9 of the Constitution guaranteed that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty, save in accordance with the law, and it was the obligation of the government to ensure that fundamental rights of the citizens were ensured.

Justice Amir Hani asked the city police chief as to how many accused involved in the targeted killings had been sentenced till Wednesday. But to the court’s dismay, the Sindh police AIG, also the chief of Karachi police, replied that none of the accused had been sentenced so far.

The bench then remarked that free and fair election according to the constitution would remain an elusive dream if lawlessness continued to prevail in the city. The judges remarked that the government kept spending large sums of money on the Rangers, ironically the situation in the metropolis had become worse since Rangers were deployed.

When the bench inquired about kidnapping-for-ransom cases reported in the city, Sindh IG told the bench that around 105 such cases had been reported during 2012, while only one case was reported January 2013.

The Karachi police chief informed the judges that there were 250 investigation officers (IOs) in the city and the force was short-staffed after which the bench questioned that how can crime be contained if there were only 250 IOs to track down and arrest more than 22,000 absconders.

Justice Khawaja said that government functionaries should admit the fact that they had not provided sufficient resources and strength to the city’s police force for enabling them to control the law-and-order situation in the city.

The Sindh IG then told the court that the Election Commission had forbidden the recruitment of 7,500 police personnel in the wake of approaching general elections.

The judges remarked that they had witnessed the ability of ASIs recently when one of them could not even write two paragraphs to justify his case.SSP Niaz Khoso submitted that proving the guilt of a criminal had become very difficult as people did not turn up for recording their evidence. However, he said, the incidence of ransom kidnapping gradually decreased in 2012, as compared to 2011.

SSP Khoso stated that proper legislation on illegal arms and witness protection were necessary for effective prosecution to which Justice Khilji Arif Hussain replied that it had nothing to do with legislation since it was the responsibility of the government to introduce laws for curbing crime and maintaining law and order.

He went on to observe that the people did not trust on police and other institutions, therefore, they hesitated from giving testimony or recording their evidence before the police. He said that the nature of crimes had changed and since traders were not being kidnapped.

The bench expressed astonishment when Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Waseem Ahmed submitted that he had sent a letter to the federal law secretary regarding arms licenses and illegal weapons, observing that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, legislation had to be enacted by provincial legislators adding that it had nothing to do with the law prevailing in the other provinces.

The hearing was put off till Thursday (today).