Plea seeking publication of JIT reports: SHC angers at AG Sindh who fails to appear

KARACHI:  (SHC) on Monday expressed annoyance at the Advocate General (AG) of Sindh for his absence in a case related to making public the Joint Investigation Team’s (JIT’s) reports pertaining to the Lyari gangster Uzari Baloch; former chairman of Fishermen Cooperative Society, Nisar Morai, and accused in Baldia factory fire tragedy.

A two-member bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, heard the petition seeking making public the JIT reports.

The bench annoyed at AG Sindh and remarked that court had directed the AG Sindh to give his arguments on the case but despite the court orders he did not appear before the bench.

Umer Soomro, the counsel of the petitioner, submitted if the AG Sindh was not coming to court then JIT reports should be made public, which have already been submitted to the court.

Justice Kalhoro remarked that decision pertaining to the JITs will be written. The court summoned the AG Sindh and adjourned the hearing till May 20.

Ali Zaidi, the Karachi-based lawmaker had moved a petition in the high court seeking directives for the law enforcement agencies to make public JIT reports of Uzair Baloch, Morai and the Baldia inferno case.

He, in his petition, contended that more than 250 people lost their lives in the Baldia incident but the JIT report had not been made public yet. The JIT reports of Uzair Baloch and Morai have also not been made publically available, he added.

The minister claimed that Morai had spilled the beans about involvement of senior politicians in the murder of seven people during his questioning by the JIT. “It was the right of citizens to know about the suspects investigated during the JIT investigation.”