kARACHI: The Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry began hearing the suo moto case regarding the security situation in Karachi Tuesday, Geo News reported.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is hearing the case while the bench comprises of Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani, Justice Ameer Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

Sindh government lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzadah in his arguments said that the ratio of punishments to the accused is very low while the powers of police and Rangers are not being utilized properly. He said that the ratio of punishments could be made better by providing security to the witnesses.

Pirzadah said that 300 people lost their lives after the elections in Ayub khan era while same kind of riots took place in Mumtaz Bhutto’s time in 1972.

He further told the court that Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) came into being after Sohrab Goth incident and according to NADRA, the foreigners population now stands at 2.5 million which was not even 0.1 million in Karachi. They have gained power to the extent that a Burmi national was also elected as a counselor, he added.

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While giving his arguments, Pirzadah said that it is important to cure the root causes of this violence. He said that the situation in the city has improved after the court took suo moto notice on August 24.

He said that the SC in its order wrote that the government has failed to provide security to the people and their assets which can be turned into constitutional petition according to Article 199 for high court to conduct investigation.