Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday took notice of a special report published by Daily Times regarding Bahria Enclave incident, in which several people had been killed and injured after a stage collapsed during recording of a private TV channel programme.

While taking cognizance of the incident highlighted in the special report, the chief justice directed the federal capital’s chief commissioner and inspector general of police to submit a detailed report about the incident within two days.

According to the top court’s spokesperson, Shahid Hussain Komboyo, the notice has been taken on the said report according to which two people were killed and dozens were injured after a stage collapsed during recording of programme.

Instead of providing medical aid to the injured people, most of the management staff escaped from the site. The Bahria Enclave management turned off the lights that made it difficult to carry out rescue activities.

“Reportedly, injured people were not provided proper medical treatment. Moreover, the Islamabad administration allegedly remained a silent spectator in the whole episode and seemed reluctant to take action in accordance with law,” a press statement issued by the spokesperson quoted the special report as saying.

According to the Daily Times special report, which was published a day ago, so far no FIR has been registered by the Islamabad Police. The Islamabad commissioner is also reluctant to launch a formal inquiry.

“Initially, the incident was overlooked by the media due to fears of corporate damage. However, after increasing criticism on social media, some of electronic media talk shows discussed the issue. Several newspapers then also reported the incident,” Daily Times had reported.

The special report further stated that theoretically, media blackout referred to the censorship of news related to a certain topic for any reason adding that there were some corporate interests of media houses linked with market forces ie advertisements, political and ideological alignments, which forced them to decide before reporting.

The recent blackout of Bahria Enclave incident was triggered by fears of losing advertisement revenue from the Bahria Town. However, the silence of state institutions like the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration and the Islamabad Police is highly questionable, the report had further stated.

A day ago, when Daily Times had contacted Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Capitan (r) Mushtaq Ahmad over the incident, he had confirmed that no formal inquiry had been launched into the incident so far.

“Nobody has contacted us about the incident so far. According to our information, four people were seriously injured in the incident. One of them later expired,” the Islamabad DC said when asked about the number of causalities.

Operations SSP Sajid Kiani had avoided responding to requests for comments by Daily Times despite repeated attempts.

According to the report, the social activists had demanded of the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice over the incident.

Indian diplomat: A senior Indian diplomat was caught taking a picture of an Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge with his cell phone during a court hearing on Friday.

Piyush Singh, identified as first secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, snapped a photo of Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani during the hearing of a case filed by a Pakistani man, Tahir Ali, seeking the high court’s intervention to meet his Indian national wife, Uzma.

When courtroom officials brought the incident to the notice of the IHC judge, he ordered confiscation of Singh’s cell phone. Terming it a serious violation of the court decorum, the IHC judge ordered the Indian diplomat to submit a written apology before the court after Singh verbally apologised for the said incident. However, later the diplomat issued a written apology. The court accepted his apology and warned him not to repeat the act.

Indian girl Uzma and Pakistani national Tahir Ali remained in the limelight even on Friday.

In the latest twist, Ali has sought the Islamabad High Court’s intervention to meet his wife in ‘free atmosphere’, claiming Uzma recorded her statement before a magistrate against him under “duress and pressure” by her brother through the officials of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan. On May 3, Uzma informed the magistrate that she was deceived, tortured and forced to sign marriage documents at gunpoint. Uzma said she had taken refuge at the high commission because she felt threatened and wanted to go back to New Delhi. Contrary to her claim, Ali, through his counsel Fayaz Ahmed, claimed that she was being forcibly kept there.