KARACHI - The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday exempted Chief Secretary (CS) Sindh from appearing in a contempt petition hearing pertaining to the further detention of the accused of Daniel Pearl murder case. Earlier, the high court had declared a notification null and void with regard to the detention of four accused in the case.
A SHC bench, headed by Justice Naimtullah Phulpoto, heard the contempt of court petition filed by Ahmed Omer Saeed and others against their further detention.
The court had issued notices to the chief secretary Sindh and others and sought the government’s reply over the issue. The bench while granting exemption to the chief secretary ruled that the home secretary and other officials would have to appear in the hearing.
Advocate General Sindh pleaded to the court that Supreme Court had ordered that accused should not be released until the next hearing.
He pleaded the court to adjourn the hearing until the Supreme Court decides an appeal against the Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict in Daniel Pearl murder case. At which justice Phulpoto remarked that Supreme Court’s order will be applied if the matter is in Supreme Court. The government lawyer also sought an exemption to the chief secretary and the home secretary from appearing in the case hearing.
The court ordered jail and police authorities to appear at the next hearing and it adjourned further hearing of the petition until February 3.
A bench of the high court had declared a notification with regard to the detention of four accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil, as null and void and ordered their immediate release from jail. A contempt of court petition was filed against the provincial chief secretary, jail officials, and others over the government’s failure in compliance with the court orders. The provincial home department had detained the accused under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) on September 28.
Four convicts of the murder case, Ahmed Omer Saeed and others had moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in 2002, after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.
The ATC had handed death sentence to the main accused Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh and life sentences to the other three accused. The high court overturned the verdict of the ATC and acquitted convicts on April 02 last year.
The Sindh government and the family of Daniel Pearl filed appeals against the high court verdict in Supreme Court and the case had been under hearing in the apex court.
A 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was working on a story on religious extremists, in January 2002 in Karachi, when he was abducted and slain.
