The Supreme Court on Monday took a suo motu notice of the carnage in Abbas Town of Karachi and sought a comprehensive report by March 6 from Sindh's top legal officer and the police chief. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry converted a note received by the Registrar's office on the carnage in Abbas Town into a civil miscellaneous application; and issued directives to the concerned office to fix the case in Karachi Registry saying, "an appropriate order after hearing all concerned is required to be passed".

According to the note, the explosion on 3 March in Abbas Town left 47 dead and over 150, including women and children grievously injured. "The law enforcement agencies and other government officials did not reach the venue of the blast in time for the rescue operation, due to their presence at a private function as they were busy there to provide security/protocol to higher-ups," the note further said.

Following the pattern of two consecutive bomb blasts in Quetta, Balochistan, this equally shocking carnage should serve as an eye-opener, the note added. The Quetta carnage led to the sacking of the provincial government, with calls also made for replacement of civil administration by the Armed Forces, to provide security to inhabitants in Karachi the note points out. The Karachi carnage "is a serious violation of fundamental rights, guaranteed under Articles 9, 14, 23 and 24 of the Constitution," the note concludes.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2013