Abbas Town blast: SC summons interior secy, others

KARACHI: The Supreme Court took exception to law enforcement agencies failure to thwart acts of terrorism and summoned all the representatives of intelligence agencies and interior secretary on March 8, as a three-member judge bench took up Abbas Town blast suo motu case here on Wednesday.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry ordered that all the officers from the ranks of SHO to Superintendent in the area concerned be suspended. It ordered the Sindh Chief Secretary to remove the officers and issue a notification in this regard.

The court was of the view that prima facie the Rangers had failed despite enjoying police powers since 2001, and its deployment since 1995 in the city.

Major General Rizwan Akhtar, DG Pakistan Rangers, told the court that the paramilitary troops didn’t reach the spot of the blast in Abbas Town as people were enraged following the bombing.

The court said Rangers DG conceded that he didn’t feel any need to take action against his officers despite their negligence and the force only had general information regarding the blast.

The CJ asked as to why borders of the city were not sealed by the Rangers so that flow of arms could be curbed.The DG Rangers said the force had no capability to do so.


The court ordered a probe into the role of Sindh Inspector General Fayaz Leghari and Deputy Inspector General.

The court said there was a need for an operation cleanup in Karachi to purge the city of weapons.

Sindh government counsel Anwar Mansoor told a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry seized with the hearing of Abbas Town blast suo motu case that Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said he had decided to remove the officers and return their services to the federation.