Sindh’s chief secretary has been sent a legal notice warning him and others of contempt proceedings if any hurdles were created in executing the high court’s orders about the country’s top anti-graft watchdog.
A week ago the Sindh High Court (SHC) ruled that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) would complete all its ongoing enquiries and investigations and the accountability courts would continue to see to the references brought to them.
The legal notice stated that in its August 16 and August 22 rulings the SHC had directed NAB to proceed with its enquiries and investigations and that there was nothing in the orders restraining the watchdog from taking on new cases.
Faisal Siddiqui, the counsel for the petitioner challenging the act repealing the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, said the provincial government was provided with legal advice by the advocate general creating the impression that NAB could not initiate fresh enquiries or investigations.
Siddiqui said that such an advice was tantamount to questioning the power of the superior courts to pass a restraining order on the impugned NAO repeal act, adding that such an opinion was contradicted by two facts:
Firstly, the provincial government itself had moved an application to review the SHC order, which proved that the issue of validity as well as interpretation of the order was sub judice in the court and it was advisable to seek such clarification from the high court itself.
Secondly, the SHC had directed the chief secretary to comply with the court’s order in letter and spirit without creating any hurdles, which proved that no obstacle should be created in the implementation of the NAO 1999.
The counsel reminded the chief secretary that contempt proceedings would be initiated against him and other officials if they were to create any hurdle in executing the SHC’s orders about NAB.
Bail of jailbreak accused
The provincial prosecution department filed an appeal in the high court on Wednesday against the release of Central Jail Karachi officials on bail in the matter of the June 13 escape of two dangerous terrorists associated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
Former jail superintendent Ghulam Murtaza Sheikh, deputy superintendent Fahim Anwar Memon and assistant superintendent Abdul Rehman Sheikh were granted bail by an anti-terrorism court on July 18.
Police had registered a case against the then jail superintendent, deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent along with 12 other officials and personnel for their negligence that allowed the escape of Shaikh Mohammad Mumtaz, also known as Firaun and Sher Khan, and Mohammad Ahmed Khan, alias Munna.
According to the prosecution, the militants had escaped from the judicial complex inside the central prison where they had been brought by the jail officials allegedly in connection with the hearing of some cases.
Arrested in 2013, the suspects were allegedly involved in targeting more than 60 police officials, political party workers and Shia community members.
The prosecution department said their escape from the jail premises was a serious matter and negligence of the prison authorities could not be overlooked, and requested the court to dismiss their bail.
NAB record of enquiries
The SHC directed NAB to submit the record of its enquiries conducted in the past five years. The court was hearing a contractor’s petition about misappropriation of funds in the Umerkot development projects.
The bench asked the NAB law officer why the enquiry against the petitioner could not be completed in two years and that how many enquires were completed during the past five years.
The SHC then directed the officer to submit the record of enquires conducted in the past five years on the next date of hearing.
‘NAB has no authority’
With the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, repeal bill having become an act earlier this month, provincial law minister, Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, once again clarified the Sindh government’s stance on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) losing all authority to hold Sindh government officials accountable.
“The Sindh government is in the process of introducing a much better accountability law in the province as compared to the NAB’s law,” the minister stated while speaking to journalists on his visit to the Malir Bar Association’s office, on Wednesday.
He said that after imposition of the new accountability law in the province, the NAB would not be able to take action against any provincial government’s institution. He said the federal institutions will too be compelled to praise the Sindh government’s law.
Commenting on a petition filed in the Sindh High Court a day after the controversial bill became an Act, Lanjar said that people who moved the court against the law were themselves wanted in several cases.
“Those who filed petitions in the SHC want to get favours out of the Sindh government,” he claimed. The minister, on the occasion, announced a grant of Rs13 million for the Malir Bar Association and stated that the legal fraternity has always upheld the supremacy of law and the constitution. He later responded to various questions asked on matters of provincial and federal significance.
Replying to a question regarding the escape of high profile Lashkar-e-Jhangvi terrorists’ from prison, Lanjar said a committee under the authority of Counter Terrorism Department chief, Sanaullah Abbasi, has been formed and the matter is being probed.
