Karachi police chief summoned in plea against PSL road blockades.

Byline: Ishaq Tanoli

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to ensure proper deployment of police on the blocked roads around National Stadium Karachi to curb street crimes and also summoned the Karachi police chief on March 2.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar also asked the focal person of the Sindh home department and SP-traffic (East) to appear in court on the next hearing along with replies on an application seeking contempt proceedings against them for allegedly violating court orders by blocking roads near NSK.

Petitioner Aziz Fatima has moved a contempt application submitting that despite giving a clear undertaking by SP-traffic Farah Umbreen and home department's focal person Ali Asghar Mehar that the two main roads near NSK would not be blocked during the ongoing matches of Pakistan Super League, the alleged contemnors have again blocked the roads and committed contempt of court.

The alleged contemnors turned up stating that they had not violated the court order. The bench directed them to ensure their presence on the next hearing as well along with replies and their supporting affidavits.

During the hearing, Advocate Hanif Bandhani filed an application to join the proceedings.

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He submitted that his grandson, Usama Saeed, who was shot and wounded in a mugging attempt, died due to excessive bleeding since he could not be brought to a hospital in time due to blocked rods.

The bench observed that in the interest of justice the application was taken on record and a copy had been supplied to the assistant advocate general (AAG), DSP (Legal) and IG office.

The police submitted that the offence was committed within the remit of the Sharifabad police station and the IG office had already called the investigating officer and the area SHO.

The bench asked the SHO to inform it in writing whether he had deployed proper police force in his area to avoid any untoward incidents and to also submit a progress report as to what action they were taking to arrest the killers of Usama.

It ordered the SHOs of Liaquatabad and Aziz Bhatti police stations to ensure proper safety arrangements within their jurisdiction and also directed the IGP to convey clear directions to the SHOs in whose areas traffic was blocked or diverted to ensure police deployment to avoid any untoward incident of mobile snatching or...