SHC grants more time to file comments in JIT reports' publication case

Home department told to submit comments by December 4

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) expressed on Friday its displeasure over the failure of the provincial home secretary to file comments on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) petition seeking publication of reports of the 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 additional advocate-general to submit comments on behalf of the home secretary by December 4.

At the outset of the hearing, the judges took up the matter and found that the comments had not been filed by the home secretary, despite a notice being issued on October 11 and later more time was granted as well.

The additional advocate-general said that a letter was addressed to the home department to file comments but a response had yet to be given. Excusing the department for the delay, the law officer requested more time to enable him to seek a reply and file it in the court.

The bench members were visibly irked by the law officer's response. However, they allowed time till December 4.

Case history

PTI leader Syed Ali Haider Zaidi had approached the court last month 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.



In October, the police had filed a confessional statement of Uzair 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 Prosecutor-General Shahadat Awan, and others as his collaborators in the statement.

In the petition, 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 said that the very purpose of constituting JITs, which were formed to uncover the truth of these crimes, will be defeated if the reports were not released.

He 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.