Over 14 cases against journalist: SHC directs Sindh police bosses to submit reply

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) Thursday issued notices to the IGP Sindh, DIG Sukkur Iqbal Dara, Additional Inspector General (AIG) Imran Yaqoob Minhas and the advocate general and prosecutor general on the constitutional petition of a journalist seeking an impartial inquiry against the Sukkur police for registering false cases against him and his associates for reporting on the smuggling of Iranian oil and other illegal acts of police. A division bench, comprising Justice Iqbal Ahmad Kalhoro and Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, directed all the respondents to submit their comments by January 2, 2020. Journalist Ajeeb Lakho, through his lawyer Muhammad Aslam Bhutta, has approached the Sindh High Court over registration of cases of heinous crimes including terrorism and kidnapping for ransom against him and his associates. Lakho prayed the court to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to inquire into the cases registered against him and the role of DIG Sukkur Iqbal Dara in this matter. Lakho maintained that he remained associated with many national and local media organizations as reporter in Khairpur district and covered many important issues. Lakho said when he filed some stories about the smuggling of Iranian oil with the alleged active support of DIG Sukkur Iqbal Dara, he became annoyed and started lodging false cases against him through his men including some criminals. Lakho furnished a list of 12 plus cases with the court, which were registered against him, his family members and associates. Lakho said a ‘fact finding committee’ had been constituted by the Sindh chief minister to investigate the matter of registration of false cases against journalists in June this year but the committee report had not been submitted to the court so far.