SC takes suo moto notice of Quetta suicide attack targeting lawyers

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took suo moto notice of the Quetta Attack. 

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali will hear the case on September 20, sources told Geo News.

The case was taken up by the apex court after former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and lawyers’ bodies wrote a letter to the CJ.

Notices have been sent out to Balochistan Police IG, Chief Secretary and Balochistan Advocate General.

Lawyers across the country had boycotted courts to protest a suicide attack at the Quetta Civil Hospital on August 8 which killed 72 people, mostly lawyers.

The Quetta Attack has raised several questions over governance, a notice sent by the registrar office reads.

It adds that the Quetta Attack was pre-planned. Due to insufficient facilities at hospital several lives which could have been saved were wasted, it adds.

"The serious injured were compelled to be shifted from Civil Hospital to the CMH and other hospitals outside the province. The post disaster scenario is not encouraging either. It appears that the incident has been forgotten and no headway has been made in either tracing the culprits or to mobilize state resources to prevent such occurrences in future," he said.

The explosion took place when Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi's body was being brought to the emergency department. He was gunned down at Mano Jan Road earlier that day. Former Balochistan Bar President Baz Muhammad Kakar was injured in the attack. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

Police said that unknown men opened fire after the blast. Panic tore through the hospital after the incident. The blast occurred near the emergency department of the hospital.

Many quarters claimed that the attack wiped off an entire generation of lawyers in Balochistan.

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