SHC orders to withhold salaries of missing govt employees

Approves pre-arrest bail of Khursheed Shah's sons against a surety of Rs500,000

KARACHI: A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi, ordered to withhold the salaries of missing government employees, while hearing a plea pertaining to the disappearance of Karachi Port Trust's (KPT) employee, Mehmood Ali, On Friday. The plea was filed by Ali's mother, Musamat Rukhsana Begum.

During the hearing, the court questioned which law authorised the Missing Persons Commission to issue orders for the release of salaries. To this, the commission replied that the order to continue the payment of salaries was issued on a humanitarian basis. The court remarked that the commission was not authorised to issue orders for the payment salaries to missing employees. The salaries cannot be paid until the legal custody of the missing person is established, as it is a possibility that the accused may have disappeared of his own will to avoid getting arrested, it said.

The court ordered the KPT chairman to withhold the salary of the missing KPT employee, Ali. In case the salary of a missing employee needs to be released, a recommendation should be sent to the Supreme Court (SC), it remarked. The court also ordered the Missing Persons Commission chairman to present a list of salaries paid.

The Missing Persons Commission had issued orders for the payment of salaries to several missing persons.

Pre-arrest bails

Another two-member bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh and comprising Justice Omar Sial, accepted the pre-arrest bail pleas of Khursheed Shah's two sons and an alleged frontman in a case of assets beyond means.

The court approved the bail of the accused Zeeraq Shah, Farrukh Shah and Syed Qasim Ali Shah till October 16 and ordered each of them to submit a surety of Rs500,000. It also directed them to consult the relevant forum by October 16 and join the NAB inquiry.

Money laundering

The bench also approved the pre-arrest bail of Fasihuddin Ahmed, son of Iqbal Ahmed, in a case of money laundering through bank accounts.

The counsel for the petitioner maintained that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials had issued a call-up notice and summoned Fasihuddin on September 11. He said that NAB officials had also sought records and documents pertaining to Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL). He pleaded before the court to approve Fasihuddin's pre-arrest bail, citing the fear that he might get arrested.

The court accept the plea and ordered Fasihuddin to submit a surety of Rs500,000 against his bail.

Fasihuddin Ahmed is a member of JJVL's board of directors.

NAB inquiry

The same bench ordered the NAB to complete the inquiry against Hyderabad District Accounts Officer Allah Bachayo Jatoi, who is accused of corruption, within six weeks, while hearing the plea filed by Jatoi.

During the hearing, Justice Shaikh asked if there was any district accounts officer left in Sindh against whom NAB was not conducting an inquiry. He remarked that all district accounts officers in the province were found to be involved in corruption and were facing NAB inquiries.

How much do you earn in corruption on a daily basis, he asked Jatoi.

Justice Shaikh asked the investigation officer (IO) how long it would take to complete the inquiry against the accused. The IO informed that court that the accused deposited the cheques issued for different development projects in his personal account and further inquiry against him was underway.

The court directed him to complete the inquiry within six weeks.

Plea rejected

In another hearing, the court rejected the plea filed regarding the confessional statement of the target killer affiliated with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Saeed Bharam.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi, announced the verdict on the plea.

The plea argued that the accused Bharam should not be nominated in any other case on the basis of his confessional statement till SC's orders.

According to the prosecutor, Bharam has confessed that more than 100 people had died in target killing stints carried out by him. Besides, he has also confessed to murdering several others, including lawyers, and perpetrating attacks on Sindh Secretariat and Garden police head office, he added. The prosecutor said that Bharam had revealed that MQM's Nadeem Nusrat, Farooq Sattar, Wasim Akhtar, Haider Abbas Rizvi and Mohammad Anwar, among many others, used to order him to carry out terrorist activities.

Bharam had received calls from Anwar in 2005 and 2006, who told him that the MQM founder had ordered the formation of a target killing team to kill his opponents, the prosecutor informed the court. He said that Bharam has named Saulat Mirza, Ajmal Pahari, and others, who were part of the team and carried out target killings and vandalism activities to spread fear in the city.

An Anti-Terrorism Court had sentenced Bharam to life imprisonment. A murder case was registered against him at the Nabi Bakhsh police station on October 1, 2009. Bharam is accused of killing MQM-Haqiqi worker Syed Abrar Hussain.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2019.