JIT to start investigating May 12 riots tomorrow

The Sindh government has constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe the May 12 Karachi violence, also known as Black Saturday riots, which left more than 50 people dead in 2007. The investigating body would start working on Monday.

Karachi police chief Additional IGP Dr Amir Shaikh would head the JIT, with the following as members: the Special Branch DIG, the Counter Terrorism Department DIG, the Intelligence Bureau joint director and representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Military Intelligence and the Sindh Rangers.

The investigating team has been tasked with submitting its report to the Sindh High Court (SHC) as well as the home department within two weeks.

On September 11 the SHC had ordered forming a JIT to investigate the May 12 carnage. During the hearing, the court directed that a probe be re-launched into the massacre and its report be submitted.

“It is a lengthy process because dozens of cases are registered in connection with the May 12 carnage and there is a list of A-class cases, and we have to trace all of them and make further probes,” said one of the JIT members. “Proper investigations will be started after the premier agencies name their representatives.”

The Sindh government’s notification stated that the home department has constituted the JIT to trace all the persons involved in A-class cases and make further investigations into all the other cases in connection with the May 12 riots.

The provincial administration’s statement read that the terms of reference are included to trace all the persons involved in A-class cases and to make further investigations in all the other cases in connection with the May 12 incident in Karachi.

More than 50 people were killed and around 100 others injured in attacks on rallies of different political parties and lawyers who had gathered to receive the then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at the Jinnah International Airport.

Major political parties of the metropolis have lauded the forming of the JIT and expressed hope that the investigating team would work in a transparent manner.

“We appreciate this and hope that the JIT will be transparent and the criminals of the political parties who killed our 18 workers will be exposed,” said Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Aminul Haq. “The team should keep the previous investigation in view to get the real facts.”

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) also seemed satisfied over the JIT’s forming, as the ruling party of the province has been unhappy with the previous investigations. “The FIRs registered in connection with the May 12 mayhem were registered when the MQM was in power,” said PPP Sindh General Secretary Waqar Mehdi.

The party has claimed that more than two dozen workers of theirs were killed in the May 12 violence. “Everyone knows who killed our workers, who attacked the media office and which government vehicles were providing sophisticated weapons to criminals that day,” said Mehdi.