Suspended prison chief granted bail in LeJ militants’ jailbreak case

The Sindh High Court on Friday granted bail to a suspended prison official facing charges of abetment, disappearance of evidence and harbouring criminals. Former central prison superintendent Ghulam Murtaza, along with other officials, was booked in a case pertaining to a jailbreak by two Lashkar-e- Jhangvi (LeJ) militants. He submitted that the Counter Terrorism Department had falsely implicated them in a fresh FIR over charges of disappearance of evidence and harbouring criminals in prison. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client had nothing to do with the offence of jailbreak and escape by the two prisoners and the recovery of prohibited items in the prison. He questioned the CTD’s authority to register the case against the petitioner, submitting that the articles found during a search operation by the Sindh Rangers in the prison were mentioned in the ‘mashirnama’ prepared by the Rangers and the same were auctioned as per prison rules. He requested the court to grant bail to the petitioner as the prosecution failed to prove charges against him. The assistant prosecutor general opposed the grant of bail, submitting that the applicant was found guilty of misconduct and negligence, resulting in the escape by hardened criminals involved in several high-profile terrorism cases from the jail premises. He stated that the applicant did not cooperate with the investigation officer after the escape of the prisoners. The court, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, granted bail to the applicant for a surety of Rs1 million. Two weeks ago, the SHC granted bail to two other suspended prison officials facing charges of abetment, disappearance of evidence and harbouring criminals. The petitioners, Abdul Rehman Sheikh and Faheem Anwar, assistant superintendent prison and deputy superintendent prison who were booked in the jailbreak case, submitted that the CTD had falsely implicated them in a fresh FIR pertaining to the disappearance of evidence and harbouring criminals in prison. Cable operators The Sindh High Court directed the police to provide protection to cable operators in Orangi Town. Waqar Ahmed Khan, Noman Ali and others submitted that they were running the cable business in Orange Town, but activists of a political party were creating hurdles in the business and demanding extortion money. They alleged that the culprits were taking shelter from the Pak Sarzameen Party and threatening that they would implicate them in false cases by depicting them as activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement- London if their demands were not met. A provincial law officer said that the state was bound to provide protection to all citizens, including the petitioners, without any discrimination, and assured the court that the petitioners would be provided protection in accordance with the law. The court disposed of the petition after the petitioners made a request on the basis of the undertaking given by the provincial law officer.