SHC seeks govt's reply on petition seeking publication of JIT reports

PTI approached court for JIT reports on Uzair Baloch, Baldia factory fire cases

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted two weeks to the provincial government to file reply on a petition seeking publication of reports of inquiries into high-profile criminal activities allegedly committed with the involvement of politicians in the province.

Headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, a two-judge bench directed the law officer representing the provincial government to the file reply within two weeks and fixed the hearing for November 10.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had approached the court against the provincial chief secretary for not providing reports compiled by the joint investigation teams (JITs) that had investigated the Baldia factory fire incident, alleged crimes of Lyari gang-war's kingpin Uzair Baloch and cases against the former chairperson of Fishermen Cooperative Society, Nisar Morai under the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2011.



Two weeks ago, Uzair's confessional statement was recorded before a judicial magistrate, in which he had made startling disclosures of committing criminal activities in connivance with the senior leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and police officers.

The gangster had named former president and PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his sister MNA Faryal Talpur, Senator Yousuf Baloch, former Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, former provincial minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, former Karachi city police chief Waseem Ahmed, SSP Farooq Awan, his brother and current prosecutor-general Shahadat Awan, and others as his collaborators in the statement.

In the petition, PTI leader Syed Ali Haider Zaidi argued that the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2011 had been passed by the Sindh Assembly, which granted him the right to obtain information in line with the Act. The PTI leader claimed that he requested the chief secretary multiple times to provide copies of the JIT reports but the respondent failed to provide the required information.



The petitioner, represented by Barrister Muhammad Umer Soomro, said families of the victims of the Lyari gang war, Baldia factory fire and those aggrieved by crimes committed by Morai deserved justice. However, due to the concealment of the JIT reports, the families were unaware of the culprits involved in these crimes.

"The publication of the JIT reports is important to ensure that the true culprits are not able to evade justice," Zaidi argued, citing that the print and electronic media had reported that during investigations, the JITs obtained evidence of the involvement of various politicians in these crimes.

The PTI leader argued that it was imperative that the politicians involved in crimes are brought to the book. However, he apprehended that as long as the JIT reports were kept secret, the involvement of these politicians in crimes will not be known to the public, leaving the politicians to quietly exercise their influence and quash any investigation launched against them.

"The publication of the JIT reports is important as there are allegations that state machinery was utilised to commit and cover up crimes and the people have a right to know if public resources were used for this purpose," Zaidi argued.



The petitioner also stated that the very purpose of constituting the JITs, which were formed to uncover the truth of these crimes, will be defeated if the reports were not released.

The petitioner informed the court that the precedence of making investigation reports public had been set by the Lahore High Court, which had, on September 21 this year, ordered the report of Justice Ali Baqar Najfi on the Model Town massacre in Lahore to be made public.

It was also argued that the failure of the Sindh authorities to make the JIT reports public was a violation of the right to information guaranteed under Article 19-A of the Constitution.