SHC tells home dept to decide banned outfit activist’s plea against detention in a week

The Sindh High Court has directed the home department to decide the representation of a proscribed organisation’s activist against his 90 days’ detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) within a week.

The activist, Abdul Hameed Bugti, had been recently released in the Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation car bombing case. The high court’s directive came during a hearing of a petition of Aziza Naeem, who challenged the detention of her son-in-law Bugti under the MPO for 90 days.

The petitioner submitted that her son-in-law had been in prison for his alleged involvement in the PIDC car bombing case for the last 14 years, and that he had been exonerated by the SHC on April 9 due to lack of evidence. She stated that the prison authorities refused to release him and detained him under MPO.

The DIG South filed comments on the petition along with relevant material against the detainee to justify his detention under the MPO.

The police officer submitted that Bugti was an activist of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army and his release would be a grave threat to public safety and cause breach of public peace and order.

He submitted that as many as 13 cases had been registered against him at different police stations; besides, the state would file appeal against his acquittal before the Supreme Court. The prosecutor general of Sindh also sought time to file a detailed report after gathering all other material, which led to the passing of the detention order.

A division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha directed the prosecutor general to submit details of all FIRs and related information which had been filed against the detainee.

The court directed the advocate general to appear along with other relevant documents which he wanted to file in respect of the impugned order issued under the MPO by the home department.

The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that the petitioner also filed representation before the home department. The court directed the home secretary to decide the representation of the petitioner within seven days, observing the material was placed before him prior to the issuance of the MPO. The court directed the home secretary to file a decision on the representation at next date of the hearing.

The SHC had on April 9 dismissed the appeals of two convicts and upheld their death sentences in the PIDC car bombing case; however, it had set aside the death sentence of Abdul Hameed Bugti and acquitted him of charges as no evidence was found against him.

Abdul Aziz Baloch, Mangla Khan and Abdul Hameed Bugti, stated to be activists of an anti-state organisation, were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, which found them guilty of car bombing outside the PIDC building on November 15, 2005.

Four people were killed and 21 others were wounded after the bomb exploded in a car (ACB-490) parked outside the PIDC building during the morning rush hour on November 15, 2005.

The explosion also caused damage to a fast-food outlet, bank branches on the ground floor and offices on upper floors, besides several parked vehicles. According to the prosecution, absconding co-accused Sardar Brahimdakh Bugti, grandson of the late Bugti chieftain and central leader of Jamhori Watan Party Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, had given the task to Aziz Khan, Mengla Khan and Abdul Hameed for executing the bomb explosion outside the Pakistan Petroleum Limited office as the PPL was not giving jobs to their people.