SHC seeks report on removal of barricades

Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Tuesday directed the chief secretary to file a report by February 3 regarding efforts being made to remove street barriers set up across the city.
The court was hearing similar petitions against encroachments, barricades and closure of roads around the Sindh Assembly during sessions.
A petitioner, Rana Faizul Hasan, claimed that multiple areas and roads of the city had been barricaded for security reasons, causing citizens much inconvenience and restricting their right to free movement. He alleged guards had been posted at the entry and exit points of different areas to question citizens before passing through.
Around 70 percent of link roads in Jamshed Town, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, North Nazimabad, New Karachi, Liquatabad Town, Korangi Town, Landhi Town, Clifton and other areas had been barricaded and were a major cause for traffic jams on main roads, Hasan claimed.
Citing a Supreme Court directive against no-go areas, he submitted that law enforcement agencies had failed to perform their duties despite the apex court’s orders.
In another petition, Amir Aziz cited a SHC order passed on March 9, 1992, ordering the government to ensure all roads in front of the Sindh Assembly remained open for traffic during assembly sessions.
However, he maintained the order was not executed despite the then government signing an undertaking.
In their response, Rangers submitted that LEAs had only been deployed in Karachi for security and the removal of barriers was the civil administration’s responsibility.
The court directed the chief secretary to file a compliance report and adjourned the hearing till next Tuesday.
The SHC had previously directed the government to adopt security measures for state dignitaries and important personalities that would not affect citizen’s right to freedom of movement.

Police negligence
The SHC also directed the home secretary to submit a report regarding the handover of 16 missing children, who were kept at a child protection bureau at Lahore, to their families.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a non-governmental organisation that had sought an injunction to the police to consider missing children’s cases as a cognisable offence and to investigate such cases in earnest.
The petitioner’s counsel alleged that cases of missing children were not properly investigated by law enforcers, resulting in many preventable deaths.
According to data compiled by the organisation, over 5,000 to 6,000 children go missing every year, but due to deliberate police negligence a majority were never traced and left at the mercy of kidnappers.
He submitted that police regularly registered complaints regarding missing children in daily dairies, instead of registering proper FIRs.
He suggested that if a missing child was not found within 48 hours, the police should be bound to register a kidnapping case and initiate investigations.
The SHC division bench directed the IGP Sindh, AIG Karachi and Home Secretary to look into the matter and called for a compliance report from the latter by February 17.