News
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
SC to decide fate of Lal Masjid report
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will decide whether to make public the Lal Masjid commission’s report after going through the contents of the report in chamber.
On December 4, the SC had formed a commission, headed by Federal Shariat Court Justice Shahzado Shaikh, for fixing the responsibility of Lal Masjid incident.
Legal experts believe that the SC move to probe the Lal Masjid assault, may irk Pakistan Army, which conducted the operation in 2007.
On the other hand, counsel for Lal Masjid cleric on Monday requested the court to again direct the commission or its registrar to record the statement of former president Pervez Musharraf in this matter, who had recently returned to Pakistan.
Tariq Asad also pleaded the court to direct the government to place the name of Musharraf on ECL as he may fly away from the country.
Upon this, a three member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry told him that Musharraf’s name had already been placed on the ECL on the direction of Sindh High Court. But learned counsel for applicant insisted that his name was not put on ECL and he may leave the country any time.
Regarding his plea to record Musharraf’s statement, the CJP has conveyed that firstly, they would go through the contents of the commission’s report before passing any order in this regard.
Earlier, during the hearing, Lal Masjid commission report and confidential documents were presented to the bench in a sealed envelop. Confidentiality is also claimed regarding the commission’s report.
After briefly examining the commission’s report, the court observed that it would need to analyse the report before making it public. The hearing of the case has been adjourned for two weeks.
On December 2, 2012, The SC had asked the commission to probe the reasons of Lal Masjid incident, how many people including men, women and law enforcement officials were killed. It had also questioned whether the state had paid compensation to the heirs of deceased, whether the dead bodies were identified and handed over to their heirs, whether the action has been taken against the people who are responsible for the tragedy, whether the people who are responsible for the tragedy could be marked with the available evidences and facts.
During the hearing on December 4, Islamabad Police officer Tahir Alam submitted a report pertaining to the operation in the court. He said that 103 people were killed in the operation, out of which 11 belonged to law enforcement agencies, 4 were innocent and 88 were terrorists. To which, the CJP questioned that how capital police could declare the 88 deceased as terrorists as it was a one-sided version and no one had proved them terrorists. The CJ had asserted that the people responsible for the Lal Masjid killings should be made public.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk