SHC issues notices on former lieutenant’s petition

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued pre-admission notices to the defence secretary and the deputy attorney-general on a petition filed by a former lieutenant of the Pakistan Navy seeking documents of the general court martial proceedings in which he was sentenced to death over the September 2014 attack on Pakistan Navy dockyard.

Hassham Naseer, who is currently confined in Karachi central jail, had approached the court through his father, Naseer Ahmed, for obtaining the court martial proceedings record. The former officer, who cited the defence secretary and the appellate court through the judge advocate-general branch of the Pakistan Navy, had also challenged an official notification dated April 19, 2012 and a letter dated June 7, 2016.

SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Syed Mohammad Farooq Shah issued “pre-admission” notices to the respondents and the DAG for August 17 to file comments of the authorities concerned.

It is pertinent to mention that in May this year, a Naval court martial tribunal had sentenced five officers to death for their involvement in the failed attack on the Karachi naval dockyard on September 6, 2014.  The September 2014 attack on PNS Zulfiqar had left one officer and three attackers dead, while seven sailors were wounded. Four suspects were apprehended.