Lower court strike: Proceedings suspended, UTPs sent back to jails

KARACHI: Legal proceedings of all the lower courts of Sindh were suspended for the second day on Saturday as their staff went on strike to protest for two missing colleagues from the Malir court.

Litigants suffered again, waiting till the afternoon in hope of the protest to end. Prisoners brought for trials were taken back to lockups and the court was deserted.

According to All Sindh Subordinate Judicial Staff Welfare Organisation president Mohammad Chhutan, two of clerk Agha Yasir and bailiff Shafquat Hussain were kidnapped on February 22 when they were on their way home from the Malir court.

The FIR of the kidnapping, No. 42/2011, was registered on behalf Shah Mohammad Brohi, a relative, in Malir City police station on February 24. “We are protesting because the authorities have failed to find them,” said Chhutan. “But we are on duty to process bail and other urgent matters so that no innocent person has to spend time in jail.”

The organisation will announce their plans to the media on Monday. “The secret agencies of the country are involved in the kidnapping because no one could otherwise dare touch court employees,” said Mohammad Naeem of the All Sindh Subordinate Judicial Staff Welfare Organisation.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2011.