original manuscript stolen?

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued a notice to chief federal law officer to respond to a petition calling for an investigation into an alleged theft of the original manuscript of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.

The petitioner, Agha Syed Atta-u-Allah Shah, chairman of a non-governmental organization, Raah-e-Raast Trust, approached the court requesting it to order interior ministry and IG Islamabad to register a case regarding theft of original draft of constitution and a probe into the matter.

In his petition, Agha submitted that some news websites have published reports revealing that the original draft of the 1973 Constitution, which bore the signatures of all the then constituent assembly members and the president, has been stolen.

He said that parliamentary sources had also confirmed that the original document of the 1973 Constitution was not available in the record and the archives of the National Assembly. The petitioner said that former Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza at the time of approval of the 18th Amendment wanted to examine the original document of the Constitution but she was informed that the original draft was missing. After hearing arguments on the petition’s maintainability, a two-member bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi issued a notice to Attorney General for Pakistan for October 13.—PPI