KARACHI, April 25: Justice Ali Sain Dino Metlo of the Sindh High Court asked PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari’s counsel on Friday to name former PML(N) senator Saifur Rehman Khan and police inspector-general Rana Maqbool Ahmad Khan as respondents in his criminal revision application against their discharge from a murder attempt case by a sessions court.
An anti-terrorism court transferred Mr Zardari from jail to police custody in May 1999, during which, he alleged, he was tortured by the then IGP, deputy inspector-general Farooq Amin Qureshi, and Central Prison superintendent Najaf Mirza on the direction of PML (N) senator and ‘ehtesab’ (accountability) cell chief Saifur Rehman Khan and his brother Mujibur Rehman Khan in order to extract confessional and self-incriminatory statements from him in pending cases.
He suffered a serious wound in his tongue inflicted with a sharp-edged weapon and bled profusely. The police, however, declined to register a case against its chief and other officers, who said the undertrial prisoner injured himself in an attempt to commit suicide. Mr Zardari approached the high court.
An SHC division bench comprising Justices Abdul Hameed Dogar and Hamid Ali Mirza held the ATC’s remand order unlawful and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. Malir district and sessions judge Salman Ansari conducted an inquiry and concluded that the wounds were not self-inflicted.
An FIR was registered on Mr Zardari’s complaint by the Artillery Maidan police station following the judicial inquiry but the chief minister transferred the inquiry to DSP Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam of the industrial crimes unit, who declared the ex-IGP and other accused innocent.
A judicial magistrate dismissed the new investigation officer’s report and asked the police to put up a challan. The case was finally assigned to an additional sessions judge, who, acting on police report under Section 173 of the criminal procedure code, acquitted the accused for lack of evidence.
The PPP co-chairman moved a criminal revision application to challenge the sessions order in the high court. He said the sessions court had no power to discharge the accused. It could either have acquitted them under Section 265-K of CrPC or proceeded with the trial. It was for the judicial magistrate to consider the police report under Section 173.
As the application came up for hearing before Justice Metlo, Advocate Jamil Chaudhry sought to contest it on behalf of the ex-IGP, the ex-DIG and the former jail superintendent. Advocate Ismet Mehdi said she was in receipt of a message from Saifur Rehman Khan and his brother from London to oppose the application on their behalf.
Advocate Adnan Karim, Mr Zardari’s counsel, said the accused never appeared before the sessions or magisterial court despite non-bailable warrants issued for their arrest.
He would, however, seek instructions from the applicant whether to cite the accused as parties or contest their plea for joining in the proceedings at this stage. Further hearing was adjourned to a date in office.
Election plea
M. Abid Jatoi, National People’s Party MPA-elect from PS-15 (Shikarpur), challenged his PPP rival Agha Arsalan Khan’s petition against his academic qualifications as not maintainable.
Advocates Khwaja Shamsul Islam and Abdus Sattar Pirzada submitted on behalf of Mr Jatoi that their client held a Master’s degree in Islamic studies from Shah Latif University, Khairpur, and the question of his not being a graduate did not arise. The petitioner should have taken the objection before at the time of scrutiny of nomination papers before the returning officer but failed to do so, conceding that Mr Jatoi suffered from no disqualification. He also failed to take the plea during the first round of litigation involving recount immediately after the balloting. The only remedy available to the petitioner now was to file an election petition before an election tribunal, the counsel argued.
Appearing for the petitioner earlier, Advocate Raja Qureshi argued that he could not go to the tribunal as Mr Jatoi had not been notified elected by the Election Commission. Absence of a bachelor’s degree was fatal to a candidate and the matter could be raised at any stage.
A division bench consisting of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Khalid Ali Z. Qazi adjourned further hearing to May 7.
Ruling on foreclosure
Failure to submit accounts to the banking court does not nullify the auction of mortgaged property, a division bench of the Sindh High Court held. The provisions of Section 15 of the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finance) Ordinance, 2001, are directory and not mandatory in nature as no penal consequence has been provided, the bench, which consisted of Justices A.M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan said in its ruling.
Allowing a petition moved by an auction purchaser through Advocate Saalim Salim Ansari, the bench set aside the banking court’s order against the sale of mortgaged property and remanded the case for rehearing on the points of law involved.
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