Illegal police appointments: Irked by long absence, court summons counsels

Dubs accused’s lawyers not attending hearings ‘a delaying tactic’

The Sindh High Court directed on Tuesday the counsels of the accused and the Sindh prosecutor general to appear in a personal capacity at the next hearing for the bail pleas of former Sindh IGP Ghulam Haider Jamali and others accused in a case pertaining to illegal appointments and corruption in the Sindh Police.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, was hearing the pleas.

The court expressed annoyance over the absence of Jamali's counsel, Farooq H Naek, and the counsels of the other accused, namely police official Faisal Bashir, Naeem Shah and Rizwan.

Naek's assistant lawyer informed the court that he was in Islamabad.

"Naek appears before the court regularly when his clients are imprisoned and stops appearing when they acquire bail," remarked Justice Agha, adding that such tactics are used only to delay trials.

Meanwhile, the assistant lawyer of Faiz Shah, who is Bashir's counsel, requested the court to grant an extension and maintained that the counsel would appear at the next hearing.

"If Shah has become the Sindh prosecutor general, how then can he pursue a private case?" asked Justice Agha.

The court directed Shah to appear at the next hearing personally and explain to the court how he could pursue a private case while being the Sindh prosecutor general.

It further directed the counsels of the other accused to appear before the court at the next hearing under any circumstances.

The court added that the interim bails of the accused would be dismissed if their counsels did not appear on the next hearing.

It inquired if the indictment had been issued to the accused by the accountability court.

The National Accountability Bureau prosecutor informed the court that the accused kept filing different pleas, which delayed the trial, as a result of which the indictment could not yet be issued to them.

The court adjourned the hearing till October 14.

JIT against Imtiaz Shaikh

The bench adjourned the hearing of a plea seeking the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) against Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh, after the Sindh advocate general submitted a reply.

The petitioner had maintained in the plea that former Shikarpur SSP Dr Rizwan had exposed Shaikh's links with criminal elements.

The plea moved the court to form a JIT against Shaikh to investigate the allegations levelled in Rizwan's report and include federal agencies in the investigation, while also nullifying the inquiry committee formed to investigate the accusations.

The Sindh advocate general maintained that the inquiry committee had completed the investigation and sent its report to Sindh IGP Mushtaq Mahar.

Justice Mazhar inquired when the report would be submitted in the court, at which the advocate general maintained that it would be submitted on the next hearing.

The court adjourned the hearing till September 17.

KMC's charged parking

Meanwhile, a separate bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Mrs Kausar Sultana Hussain, sought a counter-reply from the petitioner over the reply submitted by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in a plea challenging illegal charged parking and additional parking fees in the city.

KMC authorities had maintained in their reply that the body had 31 charged parking spots in the city, of which seven were within boundary walls and four were covered parking lots.

It further stated that Rs5 was charged for the parking of a motorcycle, Rs10 for hi-roof vans and rickshaws, Rs20 for cars and Rs50 for trucks.

The court directed the petitioner to submit a counter-reply against the reply submitted by the KMC authorities and adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2020.