SHC judges decline to hear two separate petitions

One petitions relates to JIT reports, the other a case of suspended jail officials

KARACHI: A two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday declined to hear two separate petitions on Monday. One petition sought publication of the report of inquiries into high-profile criminal activities, while another was filed by suspended jail officers.

Excusing himself from hearing the JIT reports case, Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, the bench's head, referred the matter to SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh to assign the same to any other bench.

The bench was scheduled to hear an application moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Ali Haider Zaidi seeking an early hearing on his petition to publicise reports of the joint investigation teams (JITs) based on interrogations of former Lyari kingpin Uzair Baloch, Baldia factory fire incident suspects and others.

Another member of the bench, Justice Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan, declined to hear a petition filed by the three jail officers of Central Jail, Karachi suspended and facing inquiry over the escape of two alleged militants.

On June 13, the prisoners, Shaikh Mohammad Mumtaz alias Firaun alias Sher Khan and Mohammad Ahmed Khan alias Munna, said to be associated with banned militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, had escaped from central jail.



The three officers, Prison Superintendent Ghulam Mustafa Shaikh, Deputy Superintendent Faheem Anwar Memon and Assistant Superintendent Abdul Rehman Shaikh, were arrested for negligence in the aftermath of the incident.

However, an anti-terrorism court later granted bail to the three officers against a surety of Rs100,000 each.