KARACHI: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday issued orders to put the names of Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur, Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari on the Exit Control List (ECL). The SC also accepted for hearing an appeal moved by civil society activists against the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) retrial order of the Shahzeb murder case. During the hearing of the appeal at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry, a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar directed the government and Interior Ministry to place the names of suspects in the Shahzeb murder case on the ECL. The apex court also directed the Interior Ministry to issue relevant instructions to all airports in the country. The court also issued bailable arrest warrants for the suspects and sent out notices to all the respondents in the case. Members of civil society had approached the SC against the SHC ruling, which set aside the death penalty for Shahrukh Jatoi and others convicted for the 2012 murder of Shahzeb and ordered their retrial by a sessions court. Ten civil society activists – including Jibran Nasir, Jamshed Raza Mahmood, Afiya Shehrbano Zia, Naeem Sadiq, Nazim Fida Hussain Haji, Zulfiqar Shah, Aquila Ismail, Fahim Zaman Khan, and Naziha Syed Ali had filed a criminal petition in the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry challenging the SHC’s November 28, 2017, ruling which stated that the murder case did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. In their petition, the civil society members stated that they had the legal standing to file the petition for leave to appeal as they were citizens of Karachi and resided in the same locality – Defence Housing Authority – where the murder took place. They stated in the petition that the incident was not just of an individual nature, but carried serious repercussions for the society at large. On December 23, 2017, Jatoi, the son of an influential feudal lord, and other defendants in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, were released from custody on bail after Shahzeb’s father submitted an affidavit in support of the defendant’s bail application. Shahzeb was gunned down by Jatoi in a posh locality of Karachi on December 25, 2012. Shahrukh Jatoi along with Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur were sentenced to death, while Siraj’s brother Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur with his employee Ghulam Murtaza Lashari were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Anti-Terrorism Court on June 7, 2013 for murdering a private university student Shahzaib Khan on December 24, 2012. Private medical colleges, govt hospitals: The SC on Saturday constituted a five-member team to carry out inspection of private medical colleges and delivery of services at government hospitals in Sindh. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, who headed a three-member bench at Karachi registry of the apex court, was hearing suo motu cases pertaining to poor services at public sector medical facilities and deteriorating standards of medical education at private medical colleges in the province. The inspection team comprises the vice chancellors of the Dow University of Health Sciences and Jinnah Medical College as well as Advocate Shahab Usto and Faisal Siddiqui. It has been mandated to visit medical colleges to scrutinize their admission policies. The team will also visit government hospitals to ascertain whether equipment, ventilators, oxygen, incubators, CT Scan, MRI, ambulances etc were available there. CJP Saqib Nisar clarified that the court would not annul any admissions, but would set standards for admission to medical and dental colleges. He restrained the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) from registering any private college, observing that the court was currently scrutinizing the entire admission process of colleges. The heads of medical and dental colleges in the province had been directed to submit affidavits that their institutions adhered to the required standards for medical education and whether the colleges were well-equipped and having all necessary facilities. The chief justice said the court would provide the medical superintendents of government hospitals with a questionnaire with regard to service delivery and availability of equipment at their medical facilities to fill out. They have also been directed to submit affidavits in this regard. Published in Daily Times, January 14th 2018.