SHC orders submission of Uzair, Baldia fire JIT reports

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Saturday directed the additional advocate general to submit the joint investigation teams’ (JITs) reports on Lyari-based gangster Uzair Baloch, former Fishermen Cooperative Society chairman Dr Nisar Morai and the Baldia factory fire case for the perusal of the court in camera.

The direction came on a petition seeking the unveiling of the JIT reports compiled after the investigators’ findings about Baloch, Morai and the Baldia factory fire case.

The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro had inquired from the provincial law officer about the status of the JIT reports compiled after investigations into Baloch, Morai and the Baldia factory fire case, wanting to know if these reports are part of the prosecution’s case before a trial court. The court directed the provincial law officer to submit the JIT reports pertaining to the investigations into Baloch, Morai and the Baldia factory fire case in court for perusal in chamber by February 16. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, who is now a federal minister, had submitted in his petition that the JIT reports had made startling disclosures about the involvement of politicians in crimes such as murder and extortion. He said the relevant authorities were approached to obtain copies of the reports and to make them public but to no avail.

The PTI leader said Baloch, tried by a military court under charges of espionage for Iranian intelligence agencies, had confessed to his affiliation with the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) central leadership, including its women wing leader Faryal Talpur.