SHC seeks comments on plea against ‘extrajudicial’ killings

Law officers, Rangers, home department given fortnight
to submit details of encounters since 2015

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has given a two-week deadline to federal and provincial law officers, the Rangers chief and the home department to submit details of people killed in encounters since 2015.

The court’s order came on Monday on a petition seeking judicial inquiry into alleged extrajudicial executions at the hands of personnel of law enforcement and security agencies during encounters.

Petitioner Talat Afshan told the SHC that law enforcers had picked up her sons Ijtaba and Isbah Feroz from Gulzar-e-Hijri on June 6, 2015.

Talat claimed that her sons, one a businessman and the other a government employee, were not involved in any criminal activities, and yet they were detained without stating a reason.

Her counsel Muhammad Amir Khan told the court that Ijtaba was killed in a “fake” encounter in the last week of February and his body was handed over to the family.

Khan said a complaint of kidnapping of the petitioner’s sons was registered at the relevant police station but the case never reached the court for trial.

He claimed that Ijtaba, who ran a garment business, was killed by Rangers in a fake encounter in Shah Latif Town along with eight others.

He said the paramilitary force had earlier denied detaining Ijtaba but later revealed that he was killed in an encounter.

He requested the SHC to constitute a judicial commission to conduct an inquiry into the “extrajudicial” killing of Ijtaba as well as all the others who were executed by police or Rangers in encounters across Karachi since 2015.

The court’s division bench headed by Syed Muhammad Farooq Shah, subject to maintainability of the petition, issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers, the Rangers director general and the home department to file their comments within a fortnight.

The bench also directed police and Rangers to file comments on another petition against “illegal” detention of a man missing since July 16 last year.

According to petitioner Amina Bibi, police had picked up her spouse Umer Farooq from Scheme 33 and his whereabouts were unknown since.

‘Sikhism’ in census form

The SHC directed the government’s counsel to submit a copy of the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order directing the census authorities to include “Sikhism” as a religion option in the registration form for the ongoing population count.

Petitioner Heera Singh told the court that more than 100,000 citizens belonging to the Sikh community were residing across the country but no separate option was included in the census registration form for them.

He said the names of other minority communities were included in the form but no such option existed for the Sikh community, which, he added, was against national spirit and solidarity.

He requested the bench to direct the census commissioner and the Bureau of Statistics to include the option of “Sikhism” in the registration form for population count.

The government’s law officer informed the court that the PHC had directed the census authorities to include “Sikhism” as a religion option in the form.

The SHC directed the counsel to submit a copy of the PHC’s order and argue if the complaint of the petitioner was redressed in terms of that order, and adjourned the hearing until March 30.

Consumer protection

The SHC directed the provincial law officer to file comments on a petition seeking implementation of the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014.

The petition was filed by Amity International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), maintaining in its petition that the consumer protection bill protected the rights and interests of Sindh’s consumers. The petition stated that for the purpose of addressing complaints, consumer courts were supposed to be established.

Petitioner’s representative, Imran Shahzad, submitted that consumer courts were functional in all other provinces except Sindh.

He submitted that the city commissioner ought to order all deputy commissioners to keep a check on the prices and quality of essential commodities, and take the accused seller to a consumer court if they are found to be selling defective or expired goods.

Since the consumer protection laws were implemented, the shopkeepers are selling goods of low and defective quality on higher prices. The public was being made to suffer by paying exorbitant amounts to buy substandard items, he added.

The court was requested to order the relevant authorities to implement the Sindh Consumer Protection Act and establish consumer protection courts in all districts of the province.