ISLAMABAD: After the harrowing incident of rape-cum-murder of a six-year-old girl in Kasur, the attention of the Supreme Court was invited to a similar incident in Mardan as Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday sought a comprehensive investigation report from the police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The CJP took suo motu notice of media reports about the Mardan incident in which four-year-old Asma was found dead in a sugarcane field in the Jandarpar area of Gujjar Garhi last Sunday.

According to the reports, the girl had gone missing while playing outside her home. Her body was later found in the nearby fields.

A post-mortem examination report indicated that the girl had been strangled while injuries were also found on different parts of her body.

The chief justice called the comprehensive report from KP Inspector General of Police Salahuddin Mehsud within 24 hours.

Apex court to resume hearing of Zainab case tomorrow

Apart from Asma, four other minor girls were murdered after assault in Katigari Lundkhwar, Chakaropul, Balagari, and Hatian areas of Mardan in recent past, according to members of the Mardan district council.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court changed the hearing date of the Zainab case from Monday (Jan 29) to Sunday (Jan 28) at its Lahore registry.

At the last hearing in the principal seat of Islamabad, the chief justice while heading a three-judge Supreme Court bench had ordered the Punjab IG and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to furnish a comprehensive reply to the allegations levelled by TV anchorperson Dr Shahid Masood in his programme.

Dr Masood was summoned by the apex court on Thursday after he claimed that the suspected murderer was an active member of an international racket involved in child pornography. In his programme, the anchorperson also alleged that the suspect maintained over 37 bank accounts majority of which were foreign currency accounts with transactions in dollars, euros and pounds sterling.

Requesting the chief justice, the prime minister and the army chief to take notice of the disclosure, the anchorperson also alleged that the suspect enjoyed the backing of a very influential personality. He even scribbled two names on a folded paper that he handed over to the chief justice and told the media that one of them was a sitting federal minister.

The Supreme Court had adjourned the hearing till Monday but later changed the date to Sunday. The notice regarding the change of date has been communicated to Additional Advocate General of Punjab Asma Hamid, IG Punjab, IG Prisons, DIG Investigations, chairman of the Pakistan Paediatric Association, Lahore, Director General of Punjab Forensic Science Agency and the anchorperson.

Meanwhile, in a separate development the chief justice issued a direction to the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in Karachi to produce complete record of the movement of private planes / jets on all airports during the past 15 days.

The chief justice also ordered the CAA DG to submit reports about an inquiry pertaining to the appointments of pilots made on the basis of ‘fake’ degrees/ certificates.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2018