Islamabad: Pakistan’s Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Wednesday took suo motu notice of the August 8 suicide bombing in the capital of Balochistan province that killed more than 70 people, most of them lawyers.
The chief justice took notice under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution of a note submitted by the Supreme Court registrar containing details regarding the incident, said a press release issued by the top court.
He directed the court office to fix the case for first hearing on September 20 and also ordered the relevant authorities to issue notices to the chief secretary, advocate general and police inspector general of Balochistan.
“The Quetta incident has raised many doubts about the state of governance in Balochistan in particular and the country in general,” the registrar’s note said.
The note said the incident brings into question the efficacy of the state machinery.
The registrar pointed to alleged lack of proper security arrangements by the administration, saying it “constitutes violation of fundamental right of life and liberty guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution”.
“Lack of security arrangements, despite past precedents points at the miserable failure of the provincial government and law enforcement agencies to avert the tragic incident.”
A bomber struck a gathering of lawyers on August 8 at the government-run Civil Hospital Civil Hospital when the body of a bar leader gunned down in the city was brought there.
The registrar’s note regretted that the massacre appears to have been “forgotten and no headway has been made in either tracing the culprits or to mobilise state resources to prevent such occurrences in future.”
A total of 73 people were killed and over 100 injured in the suicide attack.
