Court dismisses petitions seeking removal of PPP leaders

Separately, SHC issues notices to Sindh govt officials about unregistered blood banks

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed on Monday petitions seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders for not disclosing their Iqamas in their nomination papers.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Agha Faisal, dismissed the petitions moved against PPP leaders Faryal Talpur, Sohail Anwar Siyal, Manzoor Wassan and Nasir Shah.

Residents of the constituencies where these PPP leaders were elected had moved the petitions seeking their disqualifications. The petitioners maintained that Talpur, Siyal and others nominated could no longer be considered 'Sadiq and Ameen' as they had submitted incomplete documentation and failed to disclose their Iqamas.

Unregulated blood banks

During another hearing, a bench comprising Justice Mazhar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed issued notices to the Sindh government and Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority director-general Dr Durrenaz Jamal in a petition pertaining to unregistered blood banks near government hospitals.

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The petitioners' counsel maintained unregistered blood banks were selling blood in the surroundings of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, among other hospitals. The lawyer added that non-standard kits were being used for screening in these blood banks, which are not monitored. He further said that these establishments had general technicians working there instead of pathologists.

The bench asked Sindh advocate general Salman Talibuddin whether there was any regulation of the city's many blood banks, adding that even if individuals were paying for blood transfusions, lack of monitoring left the lives of patients at risk.

Talibuddin informed the court that blood banks did not fall in the jurisdiction of the Sindh Health Care Commission. At this, the court told the public prosecutor that this was an important matter and he must pay attention to the issue. It further inquired why the Sindh government had not launched an operation against non-standard blood banks.

The court ordered the Sindh government to ensure that the blood banks were being operated in accordance with the latest guidelines and adjourned the case until March 31.

Local government elections

Separately, the SHC sought the government's reply on a plea regarding fresh local government elections in the province.

The same bench heard the petition, which maintained that the current local governments had completed their four-year tenure.

Granting the Sindh government until April 15 to submit a written response, the court ordered it to state clearly when local government elections would take place in Sindh.

Seeking the government's reply, the court adjourned the hearing till April 15.

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Hoarding wheat, flour

Meanwhile, the bench also ordered parties involved in the flour and wheat smuggling and hoarding crisis to submit a response by April 14.

The petition maintained that Federal Railway Minister Shaikh Rasheed had stated that the poor eat too much bread during the months of November and December. It added that the flour crisis that had erupted across the country following rising inflation was an artificially created one.

Furthermore, it was alleged that flour had been smuggled abroad during the last six months with the aim of earning billions of rupees.

The plea maintained that the government had failed to overcome the flour crisis and therefore a joint investigation team should be set up to investigate the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2020.