SHC tells govt to submit inquiry commission’s notification

Karachi
The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the law officer on Monday to submit a notification regarding the constitution of a commission to probe the alleged custodial death of an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The directive came during the hearing of a petition filed by Syed Mateen Hussain, an uncle of MQM activist Syed Faraz Alam, alleging that his nephew was killed in police custody.
The complainant said police had picked up Alam, 22, in the Malir Extension area on December 28, and implicated him in false cases after keeping him in unlawful detention for several days.
The court was told that Alam’s illegal detention was challenged in the SHC, and, during pendency of the petition, the police announced his arrest in false cases.
The petitioner charged that his nephew died after he was brutally tortured during interrogation by policemen of the Khokhrapar and Korangi police stations.
He submitted that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon had held out the assurance that an inquiry into the custodial death would be conducted, but neither any inquiry was conducted nor any action was taken against the policemen.
He requested the court to order a judicial probe into Alam’s death and also direct the police to register an FIR against the policemen involved in the custodial death.
The court was informed that the constitution of an inquiry commission was announced, but the notification had not yet been issued.
The court directed the law officer to submit a copy of the notification soon as issued
by the government, and adjourned the
hearing.