Govt agrees to bring Haji Lalu back to Karachi prison

Constitutional petition brings drug baron back to Karachi from Sukkur jail as govt says it is ready to shift him.

KARACHI: A constitutional petition on bringing drug baron Haji Lalu back to Karachi from the Sukkur jail was disposed of on Friday after the government said it was ready to shift him.

The petition was filed by his wife Neelofar. Haji Lalu, who is Lyari gangster Arshad Pappu’s father, was shifted to Central Prison I, Sukkur after a raid on his cell inside Central Prison Karachi on Oct 22. A cellular phone, 4 SIM cards, a phone charger and a sharp knife were seized.

The 70-year-old Lalu is serving a life term for a narcotics case and many others are pending against him in Karachi’s courts.

His wife asked for him to be moved back to Karachi, arguing that the hearing of his case in the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, IV, South, was being affected.

During the hearing of the petition before the SHC, the Sindh government admitted that it had not sought the trial court’s permission to move him to Sukkur. It was done on the orders of the Inspector General of Prisons after banned articles were found in his prison cell.

On Friday, when the case came up for hearing, a law officer for the Sindh government stated that Lalu would be moved to Malir District Jail (Landhi) after which the prosecution would obtain proper orders to move him to another jail. Lalu’s wife expressed satisfaction with these arrangements and the bench disposed of the case.

Published in The Express Tribune November 6^th, 2010.