| Imran Khan assures apex court ‘state will fulfill its responsibility’ | Top court directs Balochistan IGP to submit report about abducted Ali Raza
ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday issued a written order of Wednesday’s hearing in the suo motu case pertaining to the Army Public School (APS) Peshawar tragedy case.
The three-page judgment authored by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan informed the court that he had read the October 20 judgment and assured the apex court that the state would fulfill its responsibility.
The Attorney General said that the state would deal with all those responsible for the tragedy and the prime minister has assured the parents of providing them justice.
The order further stated that the parents couldn’t bear the deaths of their children and hold those responsible mentioned in the October 20 order. “The government should prepare a report in four weeks along with the parents and submit the report with the signatures of Prime Minister,” the order said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Balochistan to submit progress report regarding recovery of abducted Ali Raza.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the suo moto case regarding target killing of Hazara community and application by Mst. Gul Agha wife of Dr. Ali Raza regarding production of her missing husband.
During the course of the proceedings, the court directed the IG Balochistan to submit report regarding Ali Raza in four weeks.
The court also summoned Director General (DG) National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) over non-compliance of court order on November 16. The court directed the DG NACTA to submit response regarding non-restoration of bank accounts of recovered persons.
Justice Ijaz asked the IG Balochistan about the recovery of abducted Ali Raza?
The IG Balochistan replied that the police had constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) for recovery of abducted Ali Raza. He said that samples for DNA of one body had been sent to Punjab Forensic Lab.
He said that the case was handed over to the police by the Levies Force after three years later.
Addressing the IG, the Chief Justice said that he was searching the missing person among dead.
He asked him to find the abducted Ali Raza among the living. He asked what would happen to the family of the abductee after hearing of the dead body?
Justice Qazi Amin said that failure to recover the abductee was a failure of the police.
The IG Balochistan said that the abductee’s family also received calls from Afghanistan. Police was trying its best to find the abductee as soon as possible, he added.
The wife of Ali Raza said that she had no information about her husband and she just wanted justice.
Justice Qazi Amin said that Hazara community was being targeted and steps should be taken for their protection.
A counsel for the four recovered persons said that the court had in the last hearing asked for release of salaries of four recovered persons and restoration of their bank accounts. He said that NACTA had stated that the names were not clearly written in the court decision. Upon this, the Chief Justice remarked that how NACTA could disobey the order as all details were mentioned in it.
The counsel said that Changez Khan was an employee of a private bank, Imran Ali was an employee of Radio Pakistan and Aamir Ali worked for Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (SNGPL) while Mukhtar Hussain run his private business.
He said that NACTA included the names of these persons in fourth schedule after their abduction. He said that bank accounts were frozen due to NACTA and departments were not paying salaries to employees.
The court issued notices to DG NACTA, DG Radio Pakistan, GM SNGPL and administration of a private bank and adjourned hearing of the case till November 16.
