The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the chief secretary and the additional IG of Sindh to submit a detailed report on the kidnapping of a doctor in Hyderabad and the law and order situation in Shikarpur.

The direction came on petitions of the Pakistan Medical Association (Hyderabad) and MPA Mohammad Sheryar Khan Mehar against kidnapping and murder of a neurosurgeon, Aftab Ahmed Qureshi, and the law and order situation in Shikarpur.

Mohammad Sheryar Khan Mehar, of PML(Q), submitted in his application that law and order situation in Shikarpur had not been different from the one in Karachi as 18 people were being killed a month in the district while six to seven kidnapped every month.

He submitted that no action was being taken against the criminals as in some cases they were being patronized by the government functionaries.

He submitted that the police morale had dropped as criminals continuously attacked police stations and degraded the SHOs while the remote and town areas of the district gave an impression as if there were no police in the district.

He prayed the court to appoint an honest and brave police officer in the district for controlling the law and order situation.

PMA (Hyderabad) also sent a letter to the chief justice for taking action against the kidnapping of doctors and killing of the senior surgeon, Aftab Ahmed.

The SHC chief justice had converted the applications of the MPA and the PMA into a constitutional petition and directed the office to fix the matter before the court.

As the matter was taken up on Wednesday before the SHC’s division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, the court issued notices to the chief secretary of Sindh, the additional IG and others and directed them to submit detailed reports on the matter on June 14.

Plea against industrial waste

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the advocate-general of Sindh, the ministry of industries, the environment protection agency and others on a petition against discharge of toxic waste from two industries in Mirpur Batharo.

Petitioner Syed Afsar Ali Shah submitted in the petition that Shah Murad distillery and sugar mills had been discharging toxic waste into the drain which was linked with the outfall drain that fell into the sea, causing environmental hazard.

He submitted that due to the act of the respondents the population of Mirpur Batharo, their livestock, agricultural land and marine life got badly affected.

He prayed the court to direct the government to restrain the respondent industries from discharging toxic waste into the drain and make arrangements for shifting of industries from the residential areas.

Petition against gas infrastructure tax

A petition was filed in the Sindh High Court against the vires of gas infrastructure development cess act.

The petitioner, All Pakistan CNG Dealers Association, submitted that imposition of the cess on the CNG dealers was against the Constitution as it was passed without approval of the Council of Common Interests which was mandatory.

The court was prayed to restrain the government from imposing the levy till decision of the petition and suspend the relevant notifications with regard to increase in taxes on the CNG businesses.