Witness infected with Covid creates chaos in Karachi court

Virus testing at SHC as staff members appear to show Covid-19 symptoms

There was panic in court on Saturday as the prosecution presented a witness infected with Covid-19 in an accountability court.

The court, which was hearing a reference pertaining to the illegal allotment of land in Clifton against Pak Sarzameen chief and former city nazim Mustafa Kamal and others, adjourned the hearing without proceedings in the chaos.

When it was revealed the witness had the highly contagious disease, the court directed them to immediately leave the courtroom and adjourned the hearing until December 23, seeking more witnesses at the next hearing.

This is not the first incident where infected individuals have appeared in court. In November, a local court sent Sindh IGP Mushtaq Mahar and other relevant authorities a letter expressing annoyance over police being negligent and presenting prisoners who had tested positive for Covid-19 in court.

"Police presenting infected accused before the court should be quarantined and the officials and staff deployed at the same police station as them too should be screened for coronavirus," the court instructed in the letter.

The move came after three accused diagnosed with Covid-19 were presented before the South judicial magistrate. They had been arrested by Baloch Colony and Eidgah Police.

Meanwhile, last week, a lawyer caused a brief panic in the Supreme Court in Islamabad when he revealed during a hearing at a full courtroom that he was suffering from Covid-19.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed had expressed displeasure at his appearance despite his diagnosis, asking, "Why have you shown up in court? You are playing with others' lives."

In response, Barrister Adnan Khan had said he had asked to adjourn a case in a different court after testing positive for the virus, but that request was rejected and so he showed up for an important case.

Testing at the SHC

Separately, staff members and employees at the Sindh High Court (SHC) were tested for coronavirus on Saturday, following the directives of the SHC administration in this regard.

Medical teams arrived at the court to screen the staff for Covid-19, with the decision for testing made after some employees appeared to exhibit coronavirus symptoms.

The administration has directed all staff members to ensure they are tested for the contagious disease.

Seeking local govt polls

Meanwhile, talking to the media outside the accountability court, PSP chief Kamal asked whether the United Nations would have to be approached to resolve the city's problems, adding that it was up to Prime Minister Imran Khan to fulfill these commitments.

"The government fired 56,000 councillors with just a stroke of a pen," reiterated Kamal, adding that the country had 'democratic martial law' when it came to local government as he appealed to the PM to announce local government elections in three provinces.

He alleged that the autonomy provided to the local government under the 18th Amendment had been handed over to the Chief Minister (CM) House and Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah had become a dictator himself. "The CM keeps the money paid by the federal government instead of providing it to the relevant areas," he claimed.

Kamal maintained that Rs8,342 billion was wasted in the province during the last decade on the whim of a CM.

He also lamented the sacking of over 4,500 Pakistan Steel Mills workers last week. "Thousands of PSM employees were terminated while PM Khan had promised to provide jobs to the citizens," he pointed out, claiming that the industrial complex had been turning profits until 2007.

He also highlighted that the Pakistan International Airlines head office had been shifted from Karachi to Islamabad, asking what 'enmity' the Centre had with Pakistan's largest city.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2020.