KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday warned the provincial authorities that it would take action against the police officers responsible for the SHC siege on the occasion of Dr Zulfikar Mirza’s presence in the court if the provincial government remained a silent spectator on the matter.

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, who heads a two-judge bench, directed the chief secretary to apprise the court of what action the chief minster had taken against the police officers responsible for the siege and file a report on it by Monday, when the matter would be taken up again.

The bench also deferred the indictment of IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali, Karachi police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo and other senior police officers over contempt charges.

Take a look: Rangers escort Mirza home on SHC order

On May 23, masked and armed policemen had laid a siege around the SHC. The guards of Dr Mirza’s and the media persons were brutally beaten up by the masked policemen at the main gate of the SHC building. The policemen had also smashed several parked vehicles and snatched cameras from journalists. The provincial police chief and other police officials filed their respective affidavits which were taken on record.

Advocate General Abdul Fatah Malik submitted that all the police officials had tendered unconditional apology. He said he watched the masked men and policemen beating people on television channels and it was quite surprising the way the operation was carried out.

He informed the court that retired major Saleem was the official in charge of the operation. The officer told the provincial authorities that he had got information about the presence of heavily armed persons, including two hardened criminals hailing from federally administered tribal areas, on the court premises.

Expressing his displeasure, Justice Shah asked the AG why the SHC registrar had not been informed about it before taking the action.

The judge directed the chief secretary to meet the chief minister to ascertain if he took any action against the police officials responsible for the siege.

He asked the chief secretary to submit its report in the court on Monday when the court would decide whether to frame the charge of contempt of court against the provincial police chief, his deputies and other senior police officers.

He said that the CM had not taken cognisance of the incident. “Had he taken any action, we would not have intervened,” the judge said.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015

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