Arshad’s mother urges SC to ask JIT to probe IK, ex-PTI ministers

ISLAMABAD: The mother of murdered journalist Arshad Sharif requested the Supreme Court to direct the joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate former prime minister Imran Khan, ex-ministers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and others for collecting evidence against the real perpetrators.

The renowned journalist’s mother, on Thursday, filed two applications through advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui under Order XXXIII Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, in the suo moto case. A five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Jamal Mandokhel, Justice SayyedMazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, and Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, will hear suo moto on the brutal murder of Arshad Sharif on June 13.

In the application, Siddiqui pleaded that former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, PTI’s former ministers, Faisal Vawda and Murad Saeed, CEO ARY News Salman Iqbal and journalist/Vlogger Imran Riaz Khan, who had claimed with “all certainty to this affect”, join the investigation, the JIT be directed to probe them for collecting evidence against the real perpetrators.

He submitted his client being the mother of the deceased anchorperson, feels that an investigation of the case at first instance be conducted and proceeded in Pakistan where the conspiracy to kill the journalist was hatched. He contended that the applicant is kept in the dark about the persons joined in the investigation of the case.Siddiqui contended neither to him nor to Arshad’s mother Fact Finding Report and reports submitted by the JIT before the Court were given. In the last hearing, she through him requested the bench either to supply Fact Finding Report and other reports or allow the counsel to inspect/peruse these reports with permission to take notes, but on the unwillingness of the Attorney General for Pakistan, no order to this effect was passed.

He, therefore, prayed that copies of the Fact Finding Report and other reports submitted by the JIT to-date be supplied to her. In the alternative allow him to have access to the reports for inspection/perusal, and with the permission take notes.

In the last hearing, the bench had expressed concern over the leak of Fact Finding (FF) report before it was submitted to the Court.

Siddiqui submitted that the applicant has every right to know about the progress of the investigation and the material collected so far. He said Arshad’s mother is lurking in uncertainty as they were not allowed to peruse the reports, which is contrary to the law and the principles of natural justice.

“Any material furnished before the apex court cannot be kept secret if some negligent act has been performed by the investigation agency.” “Non-supply of these reports is like putting [salt] on the wound of the applicant.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023