Balochistan unrest: Pak Army chief likely to be summoned

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry today expressed displeasure at a top general’s remarks on the law and order problems in Balochistan province and cautioned that the army chief could be summoned to the court. [caption id=“attachment_339517” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”] [/caption] A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice was conducting a hearing on the law and order situation in Balochistan, particularly the issue of “missing persons” or those detained without charge by security agencies, when Chaudhry made the remarks. He expressed his displeasure at a news conference held in Quetta on 2nd June by the Inspector General of the Frontier Corps, Maj Gen Obaidullah Khan Khattak, and said it was not the business of an uniformed official to hold press conferences. He further said the news conference violated the court’s orders. The Chief Justice said the court wanted to know what the role of the constitutional government was and that the time had come to summon “someone with authority”. Chaudhry cautioned that the apex court would call army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and ask him how the country should be run and what he (the army chief) could do. During the news conference, Maj Gen Khattak had claimed that Baloch nationalists were running training camps and backing a campaign to defame state institutions. Khattak blamed “foreign agencies” for the unrest in Balochistan. However, the Chief Justice remarked that the situation in Balochistan was alarming and unstable. PTI