Karachi violence: ISI to brief Supreme Court

KARACHI: The hearing of the Karachi violence suo moto case was adjourned till Thursday, Geo News reported. The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is expected to brief the Supreme Court (SC) on the situation in Karachi tomorrow.

During today's proceedings, Director General Rangers Sindh, Major General Ejaz Choudhry informed the court that militant groups of political and ethnic parties were involved in the violence in the city. He added that the situation in Karachi was worse than Waziristan and a military solution was temporary and could only be resolved through political means. The DG Rangers requested that police powers given to the Rangers should last until peace is restored in the city.

A five-member special bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Justice Amer Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani is hearing the case at the Supreme Court Karachi Registry.

Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) lawyer, Abdul Qadir Jatoi informed the court that the killing in Karachi was being done under the guidance of political parties in order to influence the senate elections. Jatoi added that Zulfiqar Mirza had made important disclosures and was an important witness in the case.

The Chief Justice remarked that if Zulfiqar Mirza said something then his affidavit should be presented in the court and a petition should be filed. He further said that it was not the job of the court to record statements of witnesses and for this a separate petition had to be filed.

"Why should we call Zulfiqar Mirza, if he has something to say he should record his sworn statement" the Chief Justice noted. A CD of Zulfiqar Mirza was also presented by the JI lawyer.

The chief of Awami Tehreek, Rasul Bux Palejo said the present government was a dummy and only wanted to collect tax "the real power is with the US".

He added that everyone knew that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was behind the violence but no one was willing to identifying them and even certain judges were scared.

The MQM also submitted a petition to become a party in the case. The lawyer for the party said that a list of people beheaded during the violence had been submitted and 230 MQM activists had been killed since 2008.