KARACHI:Civil society and rights activists who had filed a Constitution petition in Supreme Court seeking formation of a Judicial Commission to inquire in the alleged kidnapping of IGP Sindh on 19th October 2020, have expressed disappointment that the Assistant Registrar (Civil- II), Supreme Court of Pakistan on 29th October 2020 returned the petition as being not entertainable on various purported grounds.
In a joint statement here on Friday the petitions pointed out that the essence of the objections raised by the Registrar Office was that a petition seeking an inquiry into the kidnapping/detention of IGP, Sindh, is neither a matter of Public Interest nor involves the violation of fundamental rights.
“We are surprised and shocked that such an opinion has been taken by the Registrar of the Supreme Court, whereas, if there is any contemporary matter in Pakistan, which is a matter of public importance and involves fundamental rights, it is the kidnapping/detention of the IGP,” the statement said adding that the petitioners are especially concerned that such petitions of public importance are being defeated by such illegal orders of the Registrar Office and the constitutional remedy under Article 184(3), Constitution, 1973, is being rendered redundant.
“We, as members of the civil society, intent to challenge these harmful trends and would be challenging through an Administrative Appeal the orders of the Registrar Office not to entertain the Petition concerning the kidnapping/detention of the IGP.
It may be mentioned here that the group of concerned citizen through Senior Advocate Faisal Siddiqi on 27th October 2020 submitted a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan before the Honorable Supreme Court primarily seeking constitution of a Judicial Commission to inquire in the alleged kidnapping of IGP Sindh. That as per media reports Sector Commander ISI and Pakistan Rangers were alleged to have been involved in the said incident of kidnapping. That the same created a grave cause of concern for about the guarantee of safeguard of fundamental constitutional human rights including the right to life and liberty under Article 9, right to dignity under Article 14 and right to due process under Article 10A of all citizens of Pakistan.
That the incident also raised a serious question about the enforcement of the guarantee of provincial autonomy and the preservation of federal structure of governance as enshrined in our Constitution.
That accordingly, the Petition was submitted based on the sacred trust every citizen of Pakistan poses in the Honorable Supreme Court being the constitutionally empowered body to safeguard the Constitution in its entirety and strike down any against in violation of the Constitution as illegal.
It is also important to mention that several senior officers of Sindh Police on 20th October 2020 submitted leave applications in view of the incident of 19th October stating that “all ranks of Police High Command have been demoralized and shocked.”
In view of these developments the same day Sindh Government as well as the Chief of Army Staff took notice of the incident and ISPR reported that COAS has order immediate inquiry into the incident. In view of this inquiry having been ordered by COAS the IG Sindh Police publicly requested all concerned senior officers of Sindh Police to set aside their leave applications for 10 days. However, even after a passage of 17 days no inquiry has been brought forward nor those responsible have been identified thereby raising serious doubts about the sincerity of Federal and Sindh Government and institutions working under them in addressing this grave situation. This makes it even more important and necessary that the Honorable Supreme Court must address the important questions raised in our Petition.
At this point it is important to reiterate that the civil society of Pakistan including the undersigned have long been engaged in the struggle through Courts of law to ensure financial and administrative autonomy of Sindh Police and to further ensure that both the Federal and Provincial Governments act strictly in accordance with law and within their powers as mandated by the Constitution for safeguard of fundamental constitutional rights of all citizens living in Sindh.
The petitioners included I. A. Rehman (Human Right Commission of Pakistan), Anis Haroon (Women Action Forum), Nasir Aziz Mansoor (National Trade Union Federation), Karamat Ali (Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research), Mahnaz Rahman (Aurat Foundation), Fahim Zaman Khan (concerned citizen), Nazim Fida Hussain Haji (concerned citizen), Salima Hashmi (concerned citizen), Farhat Parveen (NOW Communities), Mohammad Jibran Nasir, advocate, Zehra Bano (Home-based Women Workers Federation) and Mohammad Tahseen (South Asia Partners Pakistan).