Sindh govt questions authenticity of PTI minister's 'original' JIT report on Uzair Baloch

Published July 7, 2020
Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab addressing the media. — DawnNewsTV
Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab addressing the media. — DawnNewsTV

The Sindh government on Tuesday, responding to claims made by Minister for Shipping and Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi about the alleged omission of information in the Uzair Baloch JIT report presented by the provincial government, questioned where he was getting these purported "official documents".

"The Sindh government had said that it will make the JIT reports public and we have fulfilled that promise. We said we would present official documents and have done exactly that," said Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab.

Commenting on the allegations made by Zaidi on the floor of the National Assembly, he said that the minister had sworn that the reports implicated the PPP leadership.

"We showed the documents with all the signatures. The official documents, with all the signatures, don't show any such thing."

Earlier today, Zaidi made a "passionate" appeal to Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed to take suo motu notice of the Uzair Baloch JIT report released by the Sindh government a day earlier, which he alleged was different from the "original".

He was speaking alongside Information Minister Shibli Faraz at a press conference in Islamabad, where he presented a separate report. "You are also from Karachi, you have seen how Karachi has been systematically destroyed," he said while addressing the CJP.

Shortly after his press conference, the Sindh government's spokesperson spoke to the media to comment on the alleged findings of the report Zaidi presented.

He said that JITs, which consist of one head and several members, were formed on the directives issued by the provincial government. "All members finalise a report and send it to the Home Department. This is an official document and the signatures on the report tell us as much.

"So now the question arises that if a document does not have all the signatures, where did it come from, who gave it to them?

"Who was it submitted to [...] because the Sindh government didn't receive them. Who provided them to Zaidi or is he creating them? The federal minister failed to answer these questions in today's presser."

He added that contrary to Zaidi's belief, there were not multiple JITs formed. "He says there is another report with four signatures that was sent forward. Who was it sent to?"

He reiterated that the official documents have been made public according to the Sindh government's commitment.

"The PPP's fault lies in trying to hold the current government accountable for its actions, in our chairman raising their shortcomings on the floor of the Assembly [...] they don't take well to criticism."

On Monday, the Sindh government made public the JIT reports of three high-profile cases — concerning Uzair Baloch, the Baldia factory fire incident and former chairman of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Nisar Morai — after much controversy and litigation in courts.

This was done in response to claims made by Zaidi while giving a speech in the National Assembly last week, during which he said he had the “evidence” to expose the “criminal activities” of the PPP.

He had alleged that Nisar Morai and Uzair Baloch had been given key positions in the Sindh fisheries department on the recommendations of Faryal Talpur, the sister of former president Asif Zardari, and they “used to contribute funds looted from the industrialists and businessmen of Karachi”.

“Nisar Morai has confessed to his involvement in three murders and fled Pakistan on the instructions of the PPP in March 2016, and Uzair Baloch has confessed to murdering more than 150 innocent people, his involvement in ethnic cleansing and fomenting violence in Karachi,” he had said.

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