Kidnapping of lawyer in broad daylight exposes state of governance

‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Tuesday

KARACHI: The state of governance is being questioned as a consequence of the kidnapping in broad daylight in Karachi of Barrister Owais Ali Shah, son of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, said Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Tuesday.

He said that Owais Ali Shah was kidnapped at 2.30 pmwhile the police learnt about the incident at 9.00pm. Shahzeb said that Owais Shah was kidnapped in a car that carried a fake police number plate, and due to this reason the guards at the supermarket did not interfere.

He said that the kidnappers who travelled in a car carrying police number plate have exposed the very serious situation in the city regarding the thousands of cars with fake number plates plying the roads of the city.

He said that one wonders how the police would control the city when even police cars do not have a record. Shahzeb said that more than half of the cars of the Sindh government are not registered with the departments concerned.

He said the Excise and Taxation department has no record about who has these cars and who is using them.  Shahzeb said that one can assess the performance of official departments by the fact that for the last two years, real number plates of cars in Karachi were not available, and because of this cars with temporary number plates were plying the roads of the city.

Real number plates became available for some time this year, but now temporary number plates are once again prevailing. In a different segment of the programme, Shahzeb Khanzada said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in its budget has curtailed the funds for the minorities and it gave Rs300 million to Darul Uloom Haqqania.

He said one wonders why one seminary has been given preference over other seminaries of the province. Shahzeb said that Maulana Samiul Haq’s Darul Uloom Haqqania has a history of its association with the Taliban and with their education. The chief of Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who died in a drone attack in Balochistan, had also studied at this seminary. Moreover, the chief of Haqqani Network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, has also studied at this seminary.

He said that three people involved in Benazir Bhutto’s murder have also had an association with the Darul Uloom Haqqania.

In a yet different segment of the programme, Shahzeb Khanzada said that the Orlando firing incident has paid dividends to the politics of people like Donald Trump. When Donald Trump delivers a speech, the following day even Muslim children studying at US schools have to bear taunts.

DIG Sultan Khawaja, while talking to Shahzeb Khanzada on the programme, said that the kidnapping incident of the son of the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Owais Shah, does not appear to be a kidnapping for ransom. He said that there is a possibility of the involvement of an extremist group in Owais Shah’s kidnapping.

The DIG said that a case may have been the cause of his kidnapping. He said that Owais Shah’s kidnapping incident appears to be similar to the incidents of kidnapping of Salmaan Taseer’s and Yousuf Raza Gilani’s sons.

The police official said that three witnesses to the kidnapping incident have told the police about how the kidnappers looked like. The fingerprints on Owais Ali Shah’s car have also been preserved.

DIG Sultan Khawaja said that the focus of the investigation team was on the technical data. He said the kidnappers had been trailing Owais Shah right from outside the High Court. He said that the last footage of the kidnappers is that of their travelling from Baloch Colony to Tipu Sultan Road.

A social worker, Shazad Roy, told Shahzeb Khanzada on the programme that the government itself is the biggest violator of the law. He said that three years ago, none of the police cars were registered at the Excise and Taxation department.    

Shazad Roy said more than half of cars with “GS” and “GL” number plates are not registered. “We took the matter to the court in 2014. If the Chief Justice had then heard the petition and expedited the trial, then the incident might not have occurred,” said Shazad Roy.

He said he failed to understand against whom has the chief minister been talking about cracking down when the fact is that unregistered cars are even found parked at the Chief Minister’s House.

The Information Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mushtaq Ghani, said on the programme that the provincial government wants to do away with the education system based on social inequalities and to replace it with the one that is fair to all segments of society. Mushtaq Ghani said that the government does not want to change the curriculum of the seminaries, but it just wants to bring it at par with the current era.

He said that three million children study at the seminaries. The provincial minister said that the government has given money to Darul Uloom Haqqania to construct their building which will benefit thousands of children who study there. 

He said that when the government gives funds to a seminary, then it also earns the right to monitoring and auditing. He said the government is attempting to bring the seminaries into the mainstream of society.