ISLAMABAD, 1 November 2007 — Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday took notice of the slow progress in the Karachi bombing probe and ordered officials to submit report immediately.
“More than a week has passed since these bloody explosions occurred, however, no clue has so far been found explaining the reasons and the persons involved,” said a statement issued by the Supreme Court, which will start hearing the case today. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will head the panel.
Two suicide bombers struck former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s bulletproof truck a few hours after she had arrived from Dubai to lead her Pakistan People’s Party in the elections expected to be held in January. She was unhurt but 139 people were killed in the attack, which Benazir blamed on pro-Taleban militants in the country’s border areas with Afghanistan and their supporters in the government of President Pervez Musharraf.
The country has been hit by terrorism and suicide attacks, the statement said. The entire leadership of a major political party was targeted in Karachi. The incident has hit the confidence of the nation and would affect political activities in future, it added.
The court issued notices to Federal Secretary of Interior Kamal Shah, Sindh chief secretary, Sindh home secretary, inspector general of police, Sindh, deputy inspector general of police, Karachi, and several other government functionaries with instructions to submit their reports immediately.
The court said its decision to intervene into the blast probe was aimed at “ensuring that such heinous crimes do not go unpunished,” which will result in “restoring the confidence of the nation in the system of governance.”
The federal interior secretary yesterday issued directives to the chief secretaries of Sindh, Punjab, Frontier and Balochistan to provide foolproof security to Benazir amid reports by intelligence agencies about new Al-Qaeda and Taleban threats.
Benazir has been urged not to accept bouquet and gifts. She has also been told to direct her security staff to thoroughly check TV equipment including microphones as the intelligence agencies suspect she might be sprayed with toxic gases through microphones. Sherry Rehman, party’s central information secretary told Arab News yesterday the Central Executive Committee of the party discussed several issues including security arrangements for Benazir, political strategy and party policy on caretaker governments to be formed at the center and in provinces before the general elections.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum continued his argument yesterday before an 11-member bench hearing petitions challenging the validity of Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s election as president while still army chief.
Qayyum said fundamental rights were not violated by the Election Commission’s move to approve nomination papers of the presidential candidates.
Qayyum said one of the petitioners, former Justice Wajihuddin Ahmad, who was also a presidential candidate should file his case in the High Court before moving it to the Supreme Court.
When one of the judges in the panel asked, “why,” Qayyum said, “that is the legal procedure.”
The bench headed by Justice Javed Iqbal is expected to give its judgment today or tomorrow.
