DAWN / NEWS International, Karachi 04 December 1997 Thursday 03 Shaban 1418 MQM plans to contest for presidential slot KARACHI: It is high time that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) should propose a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections by virtue of being the coalition partner of the government. This was stated by Senator Aftab Ahmed Shaikh while talking to The News from Islamabad on Wednesday. He maintained that the MQM had been with the government during all its trying days due to which they had the right to contest in the election. "After all, small province should be given its due right," he added. To a question that whether MQM had proposed any candidate for the top slot, Aftab said it was up to the MQM Coordination Committee to decide in this regard. When asked whether MQM had hinted to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in this regard, he said it would be too premature to reply. Aftab Sheikh claimed that MQM had not given up its right over the Sindh governorship as well as for another federal ministry. Senator Aftab further said that the ruling party should not have any problem in differentiating between friend and enemy "because MQM has now proved that a friend in need is a friend indeed". ---------------------------------- SC bench issues notice to Sajjad ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: The 10-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, on Wednesday issued notice to Justice Sajjad Ali Shah in the constitutional petitions challenging the validity of his appointment as chief justice. The notice was served on Justice Sajjad Ali at Islamabad airport, asking him to give his point of view on Thursday. The chief justice (under restraint), however, asked the court official who had brought the notice to send it to him by post. The 10-member bench turned down the request by the petitioner, Malik Assad Ali, for referring the case of Justice Sajjad Ali to the Supreme Judicial Council. The petitioner contended that Justice Sajjad Ali was guilty of misconduct as he had wilfully violated the orders passed by the Quetta and Peshawar benches of the Supreme Court, and his case should be referred to the Judicial Council. The court said if the petitioner had any material with him he could send a reference to the president. The petitioner was told that unless the president refused to move the council, the court could not consider this request. Aslam Chishti, counsel for the petitioner, argued that the petition was in the nature of extension of the Al Jehad Case. He said the principle of legitimate expectancy for the senior judge in high court to be elevated as the chief justice of the court was applicable to the supreme court as well. He said the issue was left open in the 20th March judgment for many reasons including that a petition on the subject was pending in the PHC. He further argued that the appointment of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah as CJ was the first violation of rule of seniority in the judicial history. At this point Justice Khalilur Rehman pointed out that Justice Aslam Riaz of the Lahore High Court was appointed chief justice in violation of the rule of seniority. Justice Shaikh Riaz Ahmed observed that two senior judges of the court had given in writing to forgo their seniority. The court will hear a petition by Nihal Hashmi on Thursday. ---------------------------------- Justice Ajmal Mian sworn in as Acting CJ Sajjad goes on leave in protest; terms appointment of acting CJ as illegal, unconstitutional ISLAMABAD: Mr Justice Ajmal Mian, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan on Wednesday. The oath to the office of the Acting Chief Justice was administered by Mr Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui at a simple but impressive ceremony held at the Auditorium of the Supreme Court here. "Please pray for me and the Supreme Court that we could serve and work for the rule of law and the interest of the country," said the acting chief justice while talking to the press soon after his swearing-in ceremony. "I never talk to the press nor I give any statement," said Mr Justice Ajmal Mian during the tea session after the ceremony. "You had published just one sentence of mine and the next day you saw what happened," he said while referring to his earlier swearing-in ceremony as the acting chief justice when Chief Justice Mr Justice Sajjad Ali had gone to perform Umrah. Mr Justice Ajmal refrained to respond to a volley of questions by journalists and simply said he always speaks through his judgments. He was appointed as the acting chief justice under Article 180 of the Constitution, which envisages appointment of the acting chief justice. The acting chief justice has assumed the judicial and administrative responsibilities of the Supreme Court on Tuesday after a 10-member full court headed by Mr Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui had passed an order, directing the federal government to appoint Mr Justice Ajmal Mian as the acting chief justice and in the meanwhile assume the administrative and judicial charge of the apex court. The absence of Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Mr Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo was felt because both of them were not present in the ceremony. However all the judges of the Supreme Court were present in the ceremony. Prominent among those who attended the oath-taking ceremony included Punjab Governor Shahid Hamid, Balochistan Governor Gul Aurengzeb, NWFP Chief Minister Mehtab Khan Abbasi, Sindh Chief Minister Liaquat Jatoi, the Balochistan chief minister, Attorney General Chaudhry Muhammad Farooq, former chief justice Mr Justice Afzal Zullah, retired judges Mr Justice Saleem Akhtar, Mr Justice Shafiur Rehman, Commerce Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Khalid Anwar, Law Secretary Saqib Nisar, Sharifuddin Pirzada and senators Javaid Iqbal and Rafiq Tarar. Meanwhile, Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah on Wednesday finally decided to proceed on a long leave in protest to avoid controversy which, he declared, is still complicated and not free from legal ambiguities. "In the peculiar circumstances and since the acting chief justice has been appointed, I propose to go on leave," Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah told the Supreme Court registrar through a telephonic communication. But in a letter addressed to Acting President Wasim Sajjad, Mr Justice Sajjad also spelled out the reasons of his leave. Asking the acting president to take action strictly according to the Constitution and the law, Mr Justice Sajjad said that he was addressing in peculiar circumstances as the acting chief justice had been appointed by the federal government while the chief justice was still there and there was nothing against him. Neither was he incapacitated, nor was he out of the country, he added. Mr Justice Sajjad said that since the acting chief justice had been appointed by the government, which to him did not appear to be legal and justifiable, he proposed to proceed on leave for about three weeks up to December 23, 1997, to avoid confounding the situation, which was already complicated and not free from legal ambiguities. The leave, which will be effective from December 3 till December 23, has been approved by acting chief justice, the registrar told The News. The letter of Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah reflected that the two-month mind-boggling controversy had not been laid to rest and could erupt again any time. Mr Justice Sajjad also had a meeting with former president Farooq Ahmed Leghari, who resigned on Tuesday at the Presidency. He went to meet the former president in a white Toyota Corolla, instead of the black Mercedes (SCP-1). He was scheduled to catch a flight for Karachi at 7:30 pm on Wednesday. Mr Justice Mukhtar Ahmed Junejo has also gone on leave for the same period. He will retire on February 19, 1998. The annual vacations of the Supreme Court will start from December 24 till January 6. Thus both the judges will remain on leave till January 6. Mr Justice Sajjad, who was appointed as the chief justice of Pakistan on June 5, 1994, by the PPP government after superseding three senior judges, is due to retire on February 16. He has already been restrained by a 10-member full court from performing judicial or administrative functions of the Supreme Court. According to observers, Acting Chief Justice Mr Justice Ajmal Mian cannot be appointed as the chief justice till Mr Justice Sajjad retires from the office. The appointment of Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah has been challenged in the Supreme Court and a 10-member full court, headed by Mr Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, is seized with the case. A number of petitions were filed challenging the notification of June 5, 1994 under which Mr Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was appointed as the chief justice of Pakistan. ---------------------------------- Crisis caused loss of Rs 107 bn to exchequer ISLAMABAD: National exchequer suffered a loss of Rs 107 billion during govt-judiciary confrontation, sources said. According to sources, foreign exchange reserves decreased by $200 million while tax recovery target set for second quarter of current financial year could not be achieved. ---------------------------------- One killed in alleged encounter KARACHI: A man was gunned down in an alleged encounter with Gulberg police on Wednesday. Police claimed that they recovered two TT pistols from his possession. According to police, three armed men were travelling on a motorcycle in F B Area. A police party, patrolling the area, signalled them to stop. However, armed men opened fire. Police returned the fire and a bullet hit one of the armed men which proved fatal. Police arrested one the armed men while his accomplice managed to escape. During interrogation, the arrested man disclosed his name as Nizamuddin, while the deceased was identified as Abdul Majeed (25). Some eyewitness told The News that armed men were intercepted by the Gulberg police party and the cops started their body search. However, after exchanging hot words, the policemen opened fire on them from point blank range. The policemen who took part in the alleged encounter included constables Nadeem, Ziaullah, Rashid and Munawwar. ---------------------------------- Six killed in different incidents KARACHI: Six people were killed and 12 others were injured in different incidents on Wednesday. Abdul Majeed, 30, Saleem, Muhammad Hilal, Muhammad Ismail, Muhammad Arshad, Muhammad Salman and an unidentified 25-year-old man were injured when their Keamari-bound speeding minibus collided with a coach at Queens Road near KPT Gate in TPX. The injured were taken to JPMC. One of them Abdul Majeed, 30 and a 25-year-old unidentified man succumbed to injuries on the way. Driver of a coach Khalil Ahmad, 30, died while seven passengers were injured when their speeding coach (PE-3105) overturned near Sakhi Hasan in Buffer Zone. Area people took the injured and the dead to the Abbasi Shaheed, where the condition of three passengers was said to be critical. A pedestrian Chaga Ram, 65, was knocked down to death when a speeding truck ran him over while he was crossing the road in Malir in Airport police area. An electrician, Aqil Husain, 28, was electrocuted while working at his shop in New Karachi. An unidentified 20-year old drug addict was electrocuted in Kharadar while stealing electric wires. Meanwhile, one Qurban Ali, 45, was injured after being run over by a speeding hit-and-run vehicle in Civil Lines on Nov 21. He was admitted to Neuro Surgical Ward of Civil Hospital but succumbed to his injuries after 12 days. ---------------------------------- 15 vehicles snatched KARACHI: Armed looted thousand of rupees, gold ornaments, electrical appliances and snatched 15 vehicles from various parts of the city on Wednesday. Two armed men, riding a motorcycle, intercepted Usmani's vehicle near Al-Habib Bank in Ferozabad and on a gun point looted Rs70,000 from Usmani and escaped. In other robbery cases, bandits looted Rs100,000 from Shahnawaz in Preedy; Rs50,000 from Nadeem in PIB Colony; Rs53,000 from Aslam in Chakiwara; Rs10,500, jewellery and other valuables from the residence of Iqbal in Malir City and cash, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from the residence of Muhammad Aslam in Khwaja Ajmernagri. ---------------------------------- Decline in carjacking but bikelifting goes up KARACHI, Dec 3: While carjackers showed a little restraint during November, the recovery figure of commandeered vehicles also declined to about 45 per cent during the month under review from over 54 per cent in the preceding month. Theft and snatching of motorcycles, however, shot up to 613 from 549 in October. Statistics showed as many as 433 vehicles were taken away in various parts of the city during November, while the figure for October was 491. Some 194 vehicles were recovered during the month under review while the recovery figure was 266 or about 54 per cent in the preceding month. Out of the total commandeered vehicles, 184 cars were snatched at gunpoint and remaining 249 were stolen in different parts of the city. Like in the previous months, different makes of Suzuki cars - Mehran, Khyber, Alto and Swift - remained the main target of carjackers like in the past as they took away 263 such cars. As many as 289 such cars were commandeered in October. The total 433 commandeered vehicles also included 88 Mehran, 35 Khyber, 35 Alto and six Swift. District East was the worst-hit as carjackers took away 207 four-wheelers in the district during the month under review. Almost a similar number of vehicles were commandeered in the district in October. As many as 47 vehicles were either snatched at gunpoint or stolen in the limits of the Ferozabad police in the district. In the preceding month 54 vehicle were taken away in the jurisdiction of this police station. Other districts, except for West, also maintained the same trend which had prevailed in October. The carjackers either snatched or stole 94 vehicles in district Central, 105 in South and 16 in Malir. The district West police were, however, able to contain the activities of carjackers in their district as the incidents dropped to 11 in November from 21 in October. Moreover, the district police established a record recovery rate of about 73 per cent as they recovered eight commandeered vehicles. The police stations in the limits of which carjackers remained unbridled were Gulshan-i-Iqbal (35 vehicles), Aziz Bhatti (32), Bahadurabad (26), North Nazimabad (19), Artillery Maidan (18), Taimuria (17), Clifton (16), Tipu Sultan (13) and New Town (13). Statistics showed that white-coloured automobiles were the favourite target of the carjackers as they took away 161 such vehicles in November. The same trend had prevailed in the preceding month during which 184 white-coloured cars were commandeered. During November most of the vehicles were either stolen or snatched on the weekend as carjackers took away 76 vehicles on five Saturdays. As shown by the facts and figures, the peak hours for the carjackers were between 6pm to 8pm. During these hours, they took away some 55 vehicles. Over 40 vehicles had been taken away in these hours during October. There was no letup in bike-lifting during the month under review as 613 motorcyclist were deprived of their vehicles. Only 147 commandeered bikes could be recovered, which is about 24 per cent of the total taken-away vehicles. The figure for the preceding month was 549 with a recovery rate of about 26 per cent. Most of the incidents took place in District Central where 225 bikes were either snatched or stolen. Only 51 two-wheelers could be recovered in the district. The bike-lifters took away 179 motorcycles in district South, 145 in East, 48 in West and 16 bikes were lifted in district Malir. ---------------------------------- HYDERABAD: DSP's son among five held for killing SHO HYDERABAD, Dec 3: The Bhitai Nagar police arrested five persons, including son of a DSP, on Wednesday as investigation into the Monday night's police encounter. The SHO of GOR police station, Ghulam Mustafa Shahani and a PPP(SB) activist were killed during the encounter which took place in Prince Town. All the five detainees were later remanded in three-day police custody by the anti-terrorist court (ATC) presided by Saleem Ahmed. Special teams, constituted by the SSP of Hyderabad, had started raids on suspected hide-outs in various localities of Qasimabad, Bhitai Nagar, Al-Mustafa and Prince Town. The detainees have been identified as Suleman, Waheed Mehar, Noor Mohammad Khoso, Aslam Jamali and Aijaz Domki. Police also claimed to have recovered a TT pistol from the possession of Aslam Jamali. Hunt for others, nominated in the relevant FIR was on. Meanwhile, Mr Jamali's mother, talking to a group of newsmen at the Press Club here on Wednesday, warned that her son was a diabetic and that if any harm came to him, the police would be held responsible. Admitting that the other side had used fire arms in clash with police, she said, her son's friends were holding a meeting at his bungalow to finalize arrangements for the ensuing visit of Ghinwa Bhutto, the chairperson of the PPP(SB). She accused the police team of taking away valuables from the house and demanded release of her son. ---------------------------------- QUETTA: 3 kidnapped for ransom QUETTA, Dec 3: Three people were kidnapped by some unknown men at gunpoint in Dera Bugti tribal agency on Tuesday. Official sources said four people, a naib subedar of the Frontier Corps, were going to Kashmor in a vehicle when a group of armed men kidnapped them near Dhoori checkpost, Sui sub-division. The sources said that after 24 hours, the kidnappers had released the naib subedar,who informed officils at Sui about the incident. The kidnappers were demanding Rs 0.6 million for the release of the three cptives , the sources said. The official sources said the three captives had been identified as Wali Mohammad(driver), Mohammad Islam and Mohammad Zaeem. ---------------------------------- Arms, narcotics seized QUETTA: Frontier Corps Balochistan have seized huge quantity of arms and ammunitions and hashish. A patrol party of Frontier Corps captured a tractor trolley which was left inside Pakistan territory by a tractor driver from Afghanistan near Chaman. The Frontier corps personnel seized 1223 kgs of hashish, five Kalashinkovs, and tens of hundreds of rockets, Mauser rounds in large quantity. Further investigations is in progress. ---------------------------------- PAF capable of detering aggression: air chief KARACHI: Air Chief Marshal Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi, Chief of the Air Staff, has asked the PAF personnel to maintain their tradition of optimum performance at all times. Parvaiz Mehdi, who is presently visiting southern air bases of the country after assuming the command of Pakistan Air Force, was addressing the officers and airmen of PAF Base Faisal on Wednesday. He said that they represented the proud heritage of the Pakistan Air Force and they were the custodians of the glorious legacy of PAF. The Air Chief Marshal said that PAF was ever ready and vigilant and had necessary capability of deterring aggression and, Inshallah, the force would rise to the occasion and prove its worth, as it had always done in the past. Meanwhile, according to a press release of PAF , the Chief of Air Staff on Tuesday visited PAF Base Masroor, where he was received by the Air Officer Commanding Southern Air Command and the Base Commander. The Air Chief reviewed the base parade and later visited the flying squadrons and saw the technicians who were busy in their routine maintenance of fighter aircraft. He also visited other support units of the base and expressed his satisfaction about the operating standards and procedures being followed. Talking informally to the technicians, he said that this base plays an important role in defending the southern flank of the country, added the press release. ----------------------------------