Sindh High Court orders to make key JIT reports public

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday granted a petition seeking to release three Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reports on the high profile cases publicly, ARY News reported.

Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro heard the case heard the petition filed by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi in the high court seeking to make public the JIT reports.

The bench today directed the authorities to make public JIT reports on Lyari gang war kingpin Uzair Baloch, Baldia factory fire tragedy and former Fishermen’s Cooperative Society chairman Nisar Morai.

The counsel of the petitioner argued in the court that the government was keeping lid on causes of bloodletting in the city by keeping the investigation report secret which were finalized by the investigators.

Petitioner’s counsel Omar Soomro said the JITs were formed on the provincial government’s request, and after the completion of the investigations, their reports were being concealed from the public, who has the right to know the truth.

Over 250 innocent people were burnt to death in Baldia factory fire, the counsel said. Uzair Baloch the kingpin of Lyari gang war had made the area a war zone. The counsel said that several police officers and government officials who were not promoted to senior posts were involved in the activities of the criminals and remained silent spectators by not performing their duties in accordance with the law.

“Now these officers have got promotions and posted at key government positions,” counsel said. “The chief secretary of Sindh wants to protect these officers,” he claimed.

He requested the court to publish and provide official copies of the JITs’ reports as all citizens have right to access the information.

“We want to keep the facts before the public and filed petition to make the reports public”.