Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday asked Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s lawyer to assist it as to whether there was any policy or law binding the government to provide adequate security to the heads of political parties.

A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, was hearing a petition filed by the PPP chairman, seeking adequate security and the permission to travel in a vehicle with tinted glasses and personal guards. The bench once again directed the federal government to file its reply to the petition by December 14.

The CJ remarked that Bilawal was the chairman of a party that was in power in the province. He said it was surprising that the PPP chief was asking his government’s chief minister for security. The CJ said that every citizen was equal before law, and added that the constitution “does not permit any discriminatory treatment”.

Bilawal had moved the court seeking directives for the respondent and law enforcement agencies to provide him round-the-clock security cover in view of reports regarding serious threats to his life.

The PPP chairman asked the court to direct the authorities concerned to allow him to travel in a vehicle with tinted glasses along with his personal security guards with licensed arms across the country. In the petition, Bilawal submitted that being the chairman of the PPP, he had to travel across Pakistan for not only organising the party but also for discharging public duties for the welfare and well-being of the people at large.

He submitted that apart from the fact that his mother Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a public meeting in Rawalpindi, he always had apprehensions about his personal security as well as about the security of his family members because the PPP leaders, including the petitioner, were receiving threats to their lives and properties from extremists and terrorists.

Bilawal, represented by Advocate Akhtar Hussain, said that the situation of law and order across the country was precarious, which was also evident from various attacks on different important personalities.

The counsel submitted that for the purpose of special security measures, the petitioner wanted to travel in a vehicle with tinted glasses along with his personal security guards whenever or wherever he travelled.

Earlier, in his reply, the provincial home secretary had submitted that the government provides security to the common men, especially to those receiving threats from terrorists.