Islamabad (November 30, 2017): Supreme Court A two-member Supreme Court bench grilled government officials on Thursday over the sit-in at Faizabad that brought the twin cities to a virtual halt for 20 days.
A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Essa heard the suo motu case regarding the 20-day long Faizabad sit-in.
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“How did the protesters get teargas shells and sticks,” Justice Mushir Alam asked the Islamabad advocate general. “If you cannot secure the federal capital, how will you secure the country,” the judge asked.
He asked whether cases have been registered against protesters possessing explosive material. The advocate general informed the court that 27 cases have been registered against the protesters.
Officials of police, Intelligence Bureau, and Inter Services Intelligence submitted reports over the Faizabad sit-in.
The deputy attorney general submitted the reports on behalf of the intelligence agencies. When asked about the casualties in the protest, he added that there were no deaths in the incident and 173 policemen were injured in the incident.
During the hearing, Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that they did not take a suo motu notice over one city and asked for details of the incident to be furnished in court.
The deputy attorney general informed the bench that they have received unsigned documents from the Punjab government regarding the losses incurred during the sit-in. He shared that according to this report, the losses incurred stand at Rs146 million.
Justice Isa then remarked where Islam permits damaging public and private property?
On November 21, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Isa had taken notice of the Islamabad protest sit-in while hearing a separate case.
Islamabad police on Wednesday told the SC that the security personnel who had launched a botched operation against the protesters at Faizabad interchange on Saturday were fatigued due to prolonged deployment during the 20-day-long siege.
“Mixed deployment of different forces, including the police, Frontier Constabulary (FC) and Pakistan Rangers, also had negative effects on productivity,” said a nine-page report submitted to the apex court on behalf of Inspector General of Islamabad Police Khalid Khattak, adding that the religious sentiments of the men deployed for the operation were also provoked by the protesters through their speeches.
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