Islamabad: Supreme Court judge Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa has said that it has become a culture in Pakistan that a common man or a low-cadre official is made scapegoat, to hide the crime of influential and superior officials. 

He gave these remarks while hearing a petition filed by IG Sindh and others, against an order of the SHC in connection with the indictment issued by the court in a case related to manhandling of journalists and other people by the police on the premises of the SHC building, during the appearance of former provincial minister Zulfiqar Mirza.

They observed that “the entire country witnessed that journalists were subjected to violence, but the IG Sindh says that the substance was insufficient for contempt of court. It did not come to his notice that the doors of the Sindh High Court were closed and public property was damaged. The case is in preliminary stage and we don’t want to influence it. It is better that the application should be withdrawn, otherwise, we will dismiss it.”

Counsel for IG Sindh Farooq H Naik and other police officers took the plea that no show cause notice was given to the police officers before announcing indicting against them. The police officers have filed an unconditional apology in the court, but their apology has not been deemed for consideration. Neither was any such evidence on the basis of which any action could be taken against the IG Sindh and other police officers, they argued.

The petitioners prayed the court to set aside the indictment order of the SHC against the police officers and accept their apology. The three-member bench while expressing displeasure remarked, “You are saying strange things. You have not witnessed an incident, which was seen and watched in the entire country.” Justice Khosa remarked “the record proves that doors of the SHC were closed at the time of the occurrence of the incident and public property was damaged. The entire country witnessed the incident of violence against the journalists. How can you say that material was not there for initiation a contempt of court case? The case in the high court is in the preliminary stage of hearing. We cannot interfere in it. If we give any observation it will leave a direct impact on the case.

Naik said that one among the police officers who will be indicted was in Lahore and in Sindh when the incident happened. The court remarked “we have already said to you that we will not interfere in the case. Whether you withdraw the application or we reject it?” the court asked. Naik requested for withdrawing the application and the court disposed of the case.