SHC rejects police apology in court siege case

Karachi
The Sindh High Court rejected on Tuesday an unconditional apology tendered by the provincial and Karachi police chiefs and other officers and directed them to file their affidavits giving an explanation for the police siege of court buildings on May 23 to arrest former home minster Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and his supporters.
Hearing a petition filed by Mirza against police denying him access to an anti-terrorism court by laying a siege there, the SHC observed that the force’s top officials had violated court orders and CCTV camera footage provided to the court had exposed as to what had happened outside its building that day.
To a court query as to who had ordered the siege of the SHC and ATC buildings, chief secretary Mohammad Siddique Memon said the IGP had told him that Maj (retd) Saleem of the special security unit (SSU) in view of the operational hazards had deployed the police force there.
He also submitted that DIG traffic Dr Ameer Ahmed Sheikh had been appointed the inquiry officer to find out as to who had ordered police to baton-charge media personnel and others there.
Filing statement on the petition, home secretary Mukhtar Hussain Soomro submitted that the high court registrar had apprehended that a law and order situation could develop outside the court and he had conveyed his concerns to the IGP.
However, he added, neither instructions were issued to cordon off the high court, nor policemen in civvies with covered faces ordered to take action.
The court was informed that IGP and the additional IGP Karachi had verified the CCTV footage retrieved outside the court building and suspended SSU’s SP Maj (retd) Saleem and 15 other personnel as well as acting Preedy SHO Naeemuddin.
The IGP’s counsel, Farooq H Naek, offered an unconditional apology on behalf of police and submitted that there were no intentions to disobey court orders. He submitted that the police officers responsible for the incident had been suspended and an inquiry was under way against them.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah turned down the apology and observed that the matter involved the dignity of the court.
The SHC observed that all top police officials had “disappeared” when they the court registrar tried to contact them for complying with the court orders.
The court also observed that the IGP should be aware of as to who had ordered the siege of the court and the roughing up of journalists and others there.
Salahuddin Ahmed, the counsel for the affected media personnel, filed a statement on behalf of three journalists and submitted a video footage of the incident.
The court directed the provincial nd Karachi police chiefs, the DIGs of South and West zones, the SSP South, the SP Saddar, the SP Liaquatabad and others to file their personal affidavits and adjourned the hearing till May 28.
On May 23, the court had taken notice of police laying siege to the SHC and the ATC buildings to arrest Mirza and directed the chief secretary, home secretary, the IGP and others to give an explanation for the action.
Mirza had submitted in an application that police had denied him access to an anti-terrorism court where he was scheduled to appear seeking an extension in his pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him with the Darakhshan police station.