SHC seeks progress report on cases against jail officials

The Sindh High Court on Monday directed the provincial law officer to submit a progress report on the trial court proceedings on a petition filed by suspended prison officials seeking quashment of FIRs filed against them by the Counter Terrorism Department in the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) jailbreak case.

The petitioners Abdul Rehman Sheikh and Ghulam Murtaza Sheikh, assistant superintendent prison and senior superintendent of the central prison, have submitted that the CTD had falsely implicated them in fresh FIRs pertaining to disappearance of evidence and harbouring criminals in prison.

Their lawyer, Aamir Mansoob Qureshi, questioned the mandate of the CTD to register a case, submitting that articles recovered during the jail search operation by Rangers were mentioned in the ‘mashirnama’ and were auctioned as per prison rules. He contended that the petitioners had nothing to do with the offence as they were in judicial custody at the time, and requested the court to quash the FIRs and restrain the CTD from carrying out an investigation till the disposal of the petition.

Adjourning the hearing till November 10, the bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto directed the provincial law officer to submit a progress report from the trial court as a charge sheet had been submitted to the latter.