KARACHI, Feb 3: The Sindh High Court asked the petitioners seeking recovery of two missing persons to file affidavits about their reported arrest by the Rawalpindi police and adjourned further proceedings to a date in office.
Advocates Ilyas Khan and Mohammad Farooq informed the bench comprising Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Arshad Noor Khan that according to newspaper reports, Osama Waheed and Zeeshan Jalil had been booked on charges under the Anti-Terrorist Act and lodged in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, for trial. The Karachi deputy inspector-general of police (operations) was to submit a report on their ‘disappearance’ in September-October 2008 but had failed to comply with the court order. They were picked up by plainclothesmen in Karachi but their arrest had been shown to have been made in January 2009.
The counsel said the petitioners, Osama’s father Hafiz Abdul Waheed and Zeeshan’s brother Ibrahim Jalil and other relatives, were surprised to hear of their arrest in Rawalpindi. The reports showed that at least their arrest in Karachi was illegal, the counsel said, requesting the court to order the detainee’s production and record their statements about their ‘disappearance’. The bench told the counsel to file affidavits of the petitioners or any other person witness to the arrest and adjourned further hearing to a date in office.
Osama is the younger brother of Doctors Akmal Waheed and Arshad Waheed who remained under preventive custody in 2006-06 for links with Jundullah, the banned outfit responsible for ambushing the corps commander’s convoy in Karachi, but were ordered released by the high court as the grounds and material pressed for their detention were not adequate to deprive them of their liberty. Arshad Waheed was later killed in an air raid in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas.
Notices issued
Another division bench consisting of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Faisal Arab issued notices to the provincial government and other respondents for March 3 in a petition by former employees of the Sindh Agricultural Supplies and Storage Organisation. The petitioners said they accepted the Sasso management’s offer for voluntary retirement on the promise of pension and other retirements. The organisation promised them a ‘golden handshake’ but later reneged on its commitment to pay pension. They said they should either be reinstated or the organisation directed to pay them all their dues, including pension.
The bench also issued notices to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and others in a petition by 10 doctors for equivalence of their MCPS (Psychiatry) degrees to M. Phil degrees for the purpose of appointment as assistant and associate professors in psychiatry. They said the PMDC denied equivalence and did not respond to their representation in this behalf. The bench sought para-wise comments from the PMDC by Feb 25.
PQA official
The bench asked the Port Qasim Authority to submit its comments on a petition moved by its former director Syed Zainul Abideen through Advocate Mansoorul Haq Solangi. The petitioner said he joined the authority in 1975 and rose to become its director for human resources. He was on sanctioned leave abroad in December 2008 when PQA chairman Afsaruddin Talpur removed him from the office and made him an officer on special duty without any assignment. He wrote to the ministry of ports and shipping and the ministry asked the PQA to appoint him its director for industrial management. However, the authority was not complying with the ministry’s directive.
Ex-EDO’s plea
The bench issued notices to the respondent police officials for February 6 in a petition moved by former executive district officer Gul Mohammad Hajano against the arrest of his son, Mohammad Ali. The petitioner said his son had lodged an FIR against the SHOs of Al Falah and Darakhshan but instead of registering a case against the officers, the police arrested his son in a false case.
Napa premises
Another bench comprising Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Abdul Rahman Faruq Pirzada adjourned the hearing of three petitions involving occupation of the Hindu Gymkhana by the National Academy of Performing Arts. The academy was allowed the use of the building by the government but the Karachi Building Control Authority says that it was not allowed to alter the building, which is a heritage site. A Hindu welfare organization has sought the return of the building to the community.
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