KARACHI, Oct 1: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday gave a last chance to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to file its reply on the petition of a young woman who sought deletion of a fake Facebook account in her name.

Petitioner Umme Laila Naz, a resident of Korangi Sector 33-C, had moved the court against her close relatives for creating a ‘bogus account’ in her name and uploading her pictures on the social website.

She cited the director general of the PTA, ministry of information technology and telecom, her relatives –– Mehwish Sadiqui, a resident of Surjani Town, Naeem Akhtar Sadiqui and his sons Faisal and Farrukh –– as respondents.

The petitioner said she was engaged to Naveed Sadiqui, son of respondent Naeem Sadiqui, in 2009 and respondent Mehwish created a fake account uploading her pictures to sabotage her engagement to Naveed.

The petitioner, represented by Advocate Munir Ahmed Khan, asked the court to direct the PTA to delete the fake Facebook IDs in her name being created by the respondents without her knowledge and consent.

She also requested the court to direct the local police to take severe legal action by registering an FIR against the respondents for misusing her name and pictures on the social media.

The bench once again directed the PTA and the federal government law officer to file comments on the next date of hearing (Oct 14).

Superhighway encroachments

The Sindh High Court on Tuesday once again directed the chief of Sindh Rangers to “provide immediate and adequate support to all agencies for removing encroachments” from Sohrab Goth to the Karachi toll plaza on the Superhighway.

A division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar also expressed displeasure over the inaction of the Rangers as no one appeared on behalf of the paramilitary force despite the court notice.

The bench was seized with the hearing of a petition regarding traffic congestion on the Superhighway from Sohrab Goth to the toll plaza due to encroachments.

The additional registrar of the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench had submitted a report regarding the matter to the SHC chief justice, who converted it into a constitutional petition and issued notices to the authorities concerned.

Expressing its dismay over the lethargic attitude of the authorities, the bench pointed out that the director general of Rangers had been told on the last date of the hearing to provide assistance and a back-up force to the Karachi Municipal Corporation to remove the remaining encroachments in compliance of the court’s earlier order.

It said that the National Highway Authority had also been directed to cooperate with the KMC by identifying the remaining encroached land and highway.

On Tuesday, the court was informed by the KMC counsel that no assistance was provided by the Rangers DG in its anti-encroachment operation.

The KMC counsel filed a statement, which was taken on record of the court.

The counsel submitted that encroachments were removed from various parts of the city in September.

The court was also told that a meeting of all relevant government departments and law- enforcement agencies was held on Sept 19.

The KMC counsel also placed on record the minutes of the meeting that showed that the NHA had to take action itself for taking over the possession of lands that belonged to it.

It was also stated in the minutes that no assistance was provided by the Rangers DG.

The provincial government law officer, assistant commissioner of airport and KMC director of the anti-encroachment wing submitted that an anti-encroachment exercise would become easier and more effective if adequate support was provided by the Rangers to the authorities.The bench adjourned the hearing to Oct 23.

The additional registrar of the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench had submitted a report regarding the matter to the SHC chief justice, who converted it into a constitutional petition and issued notices to the authorities concerned.

The additional registrar submitted in the report that the encroachments on the Superhighway from Sohrab Goth to the Karachi toll plaza, particularly at the Sohrab Goth bus stop, caused traffic jams and great inconvenience to the people and the judges coming from Karachi to Hyderabad.

It was further submitted that the situation sometimes created law and order and other security problems, endangering the security of the judges and others during their travel on the Superhighway.

The registrar submitted that the situation seemed to be caused by relevant officials’ neglect of duty.

It was proposed in the report that the Karachi commissioner, KMC administrator, DIG-traffic and DIG-motorway police be directed to immediately take necessary measures with intimation to court.

During a previous hearing, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui had submitted that 80 per cent of encroachments on the Superhighway had been removed and efforts were being made to remove the rest.

According to a traffic police report, a main reason of traffic congestion at Sohrab Goth was encroachments made along the road by various businesses, including roadside restaurants and vendor stalls.