KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday reprimanded the provincial police for their failure to arrest a prime accused of challenging the state writ by occupying a police station in a remote town of Sindh province.
The apex court had taken the suo moto action after a report from Umer Kot district where a local feudal lord Zaid Talpur occupied a police station in Kunri. A video posted on social media showed Talpur sitting on the chair of station house officer (SHO) of the police station with his accomplices standing around him. Talpur was shown insulting the police officer, who had been begging for mercy.
The video became viral highlighting the high-handedness of the feudal culture in the rural areas, forcing the police to register a criminal case against Talpur and his accomplices. After registration of the case the SSP of Mirpukhas Javed Odho issued a statement that strict action would be taken against the people involved in the incident at the Kunri police station.
Nevertheless, the apex court also took notice of the incident and instructed the police authorities to report to the court about the status of the case.
During the hearing on Monday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar expressed his serious concern over the failure of police to arrest Talpur and questioned the overall performance of the police department.
While scolding Mirpurkhas police chief Javed Odho, Justice Nisar observed that it seemed that the police was not interested in arresting the person who insulted their officers and made fun of the state writ.
Odho told the apex court that Talpur and one of his accomplices Asif Pathan had obtained protective bail from the court whereas six others suspects were absconding.
Explaining the background of the incident, Odho also told the court that Talpur had recently joined an opposition party and he occupied the police station for the release of one of his aides.
The police also submitted the protective bail documents to the court. The court adjourned that hearing for three weeks and ordered police to arrest all suspects before next hearing.
