SHC orders govt to present JIT reports of Baldia factory, Uzair Baloch

Advocate general says there is no JIT in the case of Nisar Morai

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the Sindh government on Saturday to present the sealed reports of the joint investigation teams (JITs) regarding the Baldia factory fire tragedy and in cases against Uzair Baloch and Nisar Morai.

The Sindh Advocate-General (AG) Salman Talibuddin told a two-member bench comprising Justice Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi, that government was opposed to make reports of these JITs public.

Arguing on a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and federal minister, Ali Zaidi, seeking court's orders to make these JIT reports public, the AG said that sealed JIT reports of Baldia factory fire incident and Baloch have already been submitted in the trial court.



However, an interesting situation developed when the AG denied the existence of any JIT report regarding Morai. He said, where can one get Morai's JIT report when there is no notification in this regard.

The bench, however, said that the court itself wanted to review these JIT reports and ordered the AG to present the sealed JIT reports, already submitted in trial court, before the court in camera by February 23.

Ali Zaidi in his petition had requested the SHC to order Sindh government to make these JIT reports public.  He maintained that more than 250 were burnt to death in the Baldia factory fire, while Baloch and Morai have reportedly made some startling disclosures before the JITs. He had claimed that Nisar Morai revealed the names of senior politicians involved in the murder of seven people. Who are these seven people, their names should be disclosed. We as the citizens have the right to know complete detail about the JITs, Ali Zaidi said in his petition.

Arguments sought

The same bench of the high court sought arguments from the counsel for accused after the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) prosecutor completed his arguments in the reference filed against the illegal appointments and billions rupees of corruption in Fishermen Cooperative Society.



The bench was hearing the bail pleas filed by Vice Chairperson Sultan Qamar Siddiqi and others in the reference against the illegal appointments and billions rupees of corruption in Fishermen Cooperative Society. NAB prosecutor argued that strong evidences were available against the accused. The accused were involved in financial irregularities and corruption. The bails of the accused would negatively affect the case he said adding that reference against the accused was under trial in NAB's court.

Morai, Abdul Saeed Khan, Siddiqi, Haji Wali, Shahid Hussain, Imran Afzal Riaz Ahmed and Amjad Iqbal are nominated in Fishermen Cooperative Society case. The court sought arguments from accused's counsel on February 23 after the completion of NAB prosecutor's arguments.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2019.