During the hearing of the Karachi law and order case on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered an immediate freeze on leasing land in Karachi and summoned the record of land transfers in the city.
According to a private television channel, a five-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, is seized with the hearing of a case pertaining to the implementation of the apex court order in the suo motu case related to frequent targeted killings in Karachi. The other bench members are Justices Khilji Arif Hussain, Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Amir Hani Muslim and Athar Saeed.
During hearing, the bench ordered an immediate freeze on land transfers in Karachi and summoned the details of land records torched in the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
It moreover directed the authorities that no land should be allotted until the bench was provided with the records in question.
Director-General of Sindh Rangers Maj-General Rizwan Akhtar and Sindh Inspector General of Police Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari appeared before the bench.
DG Rangers Sindh briefed the bench and presented a report pertaining to suspected individuals arrested in Karachi since Nov 1.
The court moreover directed police and Rangers officials to improve coordination in order to establish peace in the city.
The bench also directed the Sindh Rangers to open their own police station in the city.
Also during the hearing, Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan Ishtiaq Ahmed presented the ECP’s recommendations pertaining to the process of delimitation of constituencies in Karachi.
Earlier during Monday’s hearing, the bench had observed that the constituencies in Karachi should be delimited in a manner that they comprise “mixed population” to avoid political polarisation and issued notice to the secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan after an ECP official submitted that the process of delimitation of constituencies in the city could not be initiated.
Last year, the Supreme Court had given its detailed order in the case after the chief justice had taken suo motu action on the security situation in the city.