SHC seeks interior ministry’s comments on making reports public

Court warns police officers in missing persons’ cases

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the interior ministry to submit its comments on the appeal filed by the Federal Ports and Shipping Minister Ali Zaidi in cases regarding the Baldia factory incident, Uzair Baloch and Nisar Morai. The minister had filed a petition to make public the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reports in these cases.

A two-member bench heard the petition where the additional advocate-general said that the Sindh inspector-general's reply had not been submitted.

The advocate-general, who is busy in the Supreme Court, is directly supervising the case. The interior ministry didn't submit their comments on the petition on Wednesday's hearing. The court, expressing displeasure over this, ordered the ministry to file its comments by December 4.

Zaidi, in his petition, had stated that over 250 people lost their lives in the Baldia incident but the JIT report had yet to be made public. The JIT reports of Uzair Baloch and Morai have also not been made publically available, the petition added, saying that Morai had revealed names of senior politicians who were involved in the murder of seven people. As citizens, the petition stated, it was their right to know about the suspects probed during the JIT investigation.



Missing persons' case

The SHC expressed its displeasure at the police reports pertaining to the recovery of missing persons and issued a show cause notice to the Gulberg sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) for January 9, 2019. A two-member bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, heard the case and directed the police, Rangers, and other government officials to submit the progress report in the next hearing.

Justice Phulpoto remarked that the police officers should have some fear of God and if the reports are not submitted now, the officers will be sent to jail.

On the other side, the investigation officer informed the court that Muhammad Javed has been missing from Sohrab Goth since 2015 and that efforts were being made for his recovery. Letters have been written to the Rangers and intelligence agencies regarding another missing citizen, Sohail, but no reply has been received yet, according to the officer.



The court lashed out at the non-appearance of the SDPO, who had been summoned to explain his position on the missing son of Pasban General Secretary Saad Siddiqui. The court, taking note of the absence, issued a show-cause notice to the Gulberg SDPO. "Negligence of work will no longer be tolerated. Help should be sought from the media for the recovery of missing persons," the court said in its remarks. The court, asking for the progress reports, adjourned the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2018.